http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=7&u=/ap/20040223/ap_on_en_tv/tv_oscar_ads_1Levitra-pusher Mike Ditka will be benched during the Oscars. There will be no pharmaceutical ads at all during the show, ABC said.
Some of the academy's Oscar ad rules, which have been in place for at least two decades:
_No feminine hygiene products.
_No mention of "Oscars," the Academy Awards or any kind of awards show. Robertson forced one advertiser whose script included people sitting in the Oscars audience to remove the reference.
_No use of an Oscar nominee or presenter in any ad. Catherine Zeta-Jones (news)' telephone company commercials, for instance, were forbidden when she was a nominee last year.
_No ads that mention or use clips from nominated films. In fact, the Oscars prohibit all movie ads; the academy doesn't want any questions raised if a studio that advertised heavily wins a lot of Oscars.
_No mixed messages. The academy accepts ads from only one car company — this year it's Cadillac — so no other advertiser can show any other car in its commercial.