The People’s Choice: Emotions, Creativity

We asked readers to tell us which of the Emmy-nominated commercials they would vote for. A recap of the nominees:

AT&T;: “Freshman”

Agency: Young & Rubicam

Producer: Gartner

Plot: A mother gives her college-bound daughter an AT&T; phone card.

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Hallmark: “Working Mother”

Agency: Leo Burnett

Producer: Lieberman Productions

Plot: A tired working mother finds a card from her family inside her children’s storybook.

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Pella windows: “The Elopement”

Agency: Young & Rubicam

Producer: Coppos Films

Plot: A takeoff on a scene from “A Streetcar Named Desire.”

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Apple Computer: “Think Different”

Agency: TBWA Chiat/Day

Producer: TBWA Chiat/Day

Plot: A montage of influential figures of the 20th century, including Gandhi and Einstein.

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American Express: “Virtual Reality”

Agency: Ogilvy & Mather

Producer: Propaganda Films

Plot: A customer can’t buy a virtual reality headset with his Visa because he’s over his limit.

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Phone responses ran about 60% in favor of the emotional AT&T; commercial--and most of those votes came from men. About 30% voted for the high-minded Apple spot, and a total of 10% for the three others.

Those who responded by e-mail favored the Apple commercial--though four out of the 10 e-mail votes for Apple came from people on the e-mail system of Apple’s agency, TBWA Chiat/Day. Guess they don’t “think different.”

A sampling of responses:

AT&T;

“It got me, because I remember my own daughter going off to school.”

--Lloyd Weiss, Los Angeles

“Beautiful; it was family-oriented. It’s something every family man or woman can relate to.”

--Jacques Bendavid, L.A.

Apple

“It’s the most original and creative ad that matches their product that I’ve seen in a long time.”

--Julie Armstrong, Beverly Hills

“I saw that ad a year ago, and it’s stayed with me ever since. I think it’s genius.”

--Shannon Blaney, Hollywood

“How often do you see these people in commercials? Almost never. It wasn’t like an advertisement; it inspired our nice memories of these figures.”

--Mark Ing, Los Angeles

“Their use of great people inspired a higher level of consciousness and encouraged people to find out more about these people.”

--Suzanne Maxx, Malibu

Hallmark

“It was really cute, and the ending was unexpected. It was very sweet.”

--Nichole Haymond, Altadena