Oscars commercials preview: New JC Penney & Hyundai ads, Best Buy's alt. ending

Read more at: The Examiner

The Academy Awards show is this weekend, and advertisers are talking about some of the Oscars commercials you can expect to see.

So far, the Oscars commercial line-up looks to be a mix of ads that have already aired during the 2011 Super Bowl and the Grammys, along with a few new spots produced specifically for the Academy Awards.

AT&T – Odds are that the AT&T Oscar commercial will promote either the $49 3G phone sale, or take another oblique swipe at Verizon in the ongoing series of competing iPhone commercials.

Hyundai – This is the automaker’s third year as the exclusive car sponsor of the Academy Awards. The company plans to air at least nine Oscars commercials, with two running during the pre-show and seven more during the show itself. The ads will be a mix of old and new spots featuring the Sonata Hybrid, the Elantra, the Equus and others. You can probably expect to see at least one Hyundai Super Bowl commercial.

Cars.com – This Oscars commercial will be a repeat of one from the 2011 Super Bowl. Called “The Reviews are In,” the Cars.com commercial was fairly ho-hum, featuring a showroom full of talking cars comparing what reviewers had to say about them. The ad will air during the pre-show, according to a spokesman.

Dove – A brand rep said the company didn’t want to release details too far in advance of the show, but did say Dove will be debuting a new Oscars commercial for its line of body washes, Dove VisibleCare.

JC Penney – Long-time retail sponsor of the Academy Awards show, JC Penney plans to air six Oscar commercials. There will be ads for women’s fashion, men’s fashion, the Liz Claiborne line, the Cindy Crawford Style line, MNG by Mango, and JC Penney’s collaboration with People magazine. The JC Penney Oscars commercials will be posted early on the company’s Facebook page.

Best Buy – This Oscars commercial will be a re-run of an ad that aired during the Super Bowl…sort of. For the game, Best Buy ran an ad featuring Ozzy Osbourne trying to film a commercial, getting confused by technology and being replaced by Justin Bieber. Best Buy posted a series of Justin Bieber commercial alternate endings on Facebook and let viewers vote for the best one (voting ended Feb. 12). That will be Best Buy’s Oscars commercial.

Nokia – If you watched the Grammys, you may have already seen this Oscars commercial for the Nokia N8 smartphone. It shows people using their Nokias to text, take photos and make videos while on the go, and features the song “Don’t Fence Me In” by Daniel Musica and Brie Stoner.

Stella Artois – Another Super Bowl ad re-run as an Oscars commercial. This is the spot that has Oscar-winner Adrien Brody crooning to his glass of Stella Artois in a tiny nightclub full of admiring women.

Gillette Venus – Jennifer Lopez will be putting in an appearance with this Oscars commercial that first showed during the Grammys. It follows her from the stage, to the bath, to the beach with her kids, offering plenty of long looks at her legs. Lopez ends the spot by delivering the razor’s tagline: “Reveal the Goddess in you.”

Diet Coke – Expect to see four Oscars commercials for Diet Coke and one for Coca-Cola. All but one will be spots previously aired. The new Diet Coke commercial shows professionals in tech, nursing and politics all in the groove, presumably because they’re drinking Diet Coke. The ad is part of the “Stay Extraordinary” campaign.

Other advertisers expected to run Oscars commercials include Amazon.com, the American Cancer Society and several movie studios. (This is only the second year studios have been allowed to run trailers during the Oscars.)

According to ABC, all Oscars commercials had to be approved by the academy.