Controversial commercials from Calvin Klein or Victoria's Secret -- that's to be expected. But advertising's new bad boy is none other than stodgy old General Motors, which has ignited not one but two brouhahas in the past few months.
First, the Franz affair. Both NBC and CBS have refused to run a Cadillac Seville commercial featuring actor Dennis Franz, claiming it hews too closely to his cop character on NYPD Blue and thus gives rival ABC free publicity. (The spot, part of a $50 million campaign, shows Franz pulling over a Mercedes motorist for driving the wrong luxury car.) ''We were somewhat surprised,'' says Seville spokesman Dave Roman. But, he notes, the company will run other trouble-free Seville ads, including one with Cybill's Christine Baranski. (Guess it's a good thing she isn't swilling a martini, a la her character, Maryann.)
Though unusual, the boycott isn't a first. In the past, ABC has itself nixed ads with non-Alphabet stars like Jerry Seinfeld hawking American Express and Bart Simpson shilling Butterfinger. The advertising community, for one, hopes this isn't part of a growing trend. ''I'm stunned,'' says Jay Schulberg, chief creative officer at Bozell Worldwide. ''The networks must be getting desperate.''
Meanwhile, Cadillac has voluntarily pulled another spot -- this one for Catera, starring Cindy Crawford. In the fairy-tale-inspired ad (which debuted during the Super Bowl and cost an estimated $2 million), the scantily clad supermodel plays a sad-eyed princess who perks up after a wizard grants her a zippy car. Some female GM execs complained that the spot was sexist and would drive away a huge car-buying segment: older women. ''The intention was to do something high camp,'' says Catera spokesman Tom Wilkinson, who adds that the brand has alternate spots. ''In retrospect, that might not have been exactly the right approach to take.''
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