Procter & Gamble has made the decision to not buy any advertising time during this year's Academy Awards telecast. Commercial time for this year's telecast is running at about $1.7 for a 30-second spot, a far cry from the Super Bowl's $2.6 million. P&G had used last year's Oscar broadcast to promote its Olay Regenerist skin-care product. Procter & Gamble is still advertising on Oscar.com, the awards show website. The discrepency between TV and online attitudes is emblematic of a thought-shift at P&G that emphasizes interactive ads over the traditional model.

With P&G now out of the running for the Oscars, Unilever has stepped in and will advertise for the Dove brand. The Oscars are seen as sort of a Super Bowl for women since it, like the big football game, is one of the few mass-viewed TV shows still around. It attracts a much more female-weighted audience, though.