Having Jeff Bridges do a voiceover during the Oscars?
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences does not abide.
Hyundai has pulled the actor’s voice from its ads airing during Sunday night’s broadcast because of a rule limiting the use of nominees in Oscars ads.
Bridges, nominated for the best actor award for his role in “Crazy Heart,” has voiced ads for the Korean automaker since 2007.
Hyundai, the only auto company advertising during the Oscars for a second straight year, will air seven ads during the show and one beforehand. Most will feature the company’s Sonata and Genesis sedans.
The stars replacing Bridges Sunday on the ABC broadcast will be Catherine Keener, Kim Basinger, David Duchovny, Richard Dreyfuss, Michael Madsen, Mandy Patinkin and Martin Sheen.
Hyundai spent two weeks testing new voiceovers after deciding it was too hard to separate its ads during the show to satisfy Academy rules.
Joel Ewanick, marketing vice president for Hyundai’s American arm, said the new voices will bring variety.
But Ewanick added in a statement: “We’ll be happy to return to our normal casting after the show.”
Oscars night is the year’s biggest for movies – and the second-biggest for advertisers after the Super Bowl.
A 30-second ad during the awards show typically sells for about $1.7 million, according to Kantar Media. By comparison, a 30-second slot during the Super Bowl costs about $3 million.
Hyundai’s sales have risen the past year as it positioned its cars as economical during the recession and offered buyers insurance in case they lose their jobs after buying a new Hyundai.
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More