THUMBS DOWN ON FREESTYLE, PAMPLONA SQUIRRELS & E-TRADE A Tough Cannes Crowd Screens the Shortlist June 22, 2001 By Jim Hanas CANNES (Creativity) -- The crowd knew what it didn't like at yesterday's screening of the International Advertising Festival's TV commercial "shortlist." The Cannes crowd was not keen on EDS's Pamplona rodent run. And some of those choices were surprising. Wieden & Kennedy's ultra-choreographed Nike Freestyle spot that is wildly popular with the American public and a favorite among much of the U.S. contingent here, played to a round of polite but underwhelming applause. Goodby, Silverstein & Partners' E-Trade work largely fell flat, as did Arnold's Volkswagen Super Bowl ad featuring a GTI so fast it winds up in a tree. Fallon's Running With the Squirrels for EDS, despite a cinematic quality you might expect to do well here, ran in near silence. 'Short' list of 500 Actually, the Cannes "shortlist" is a misnomer because this year's included more than 500 of the 6,000 commercials entered. The jury also informally devises a shorter shortlist -- the Despite its popularity in the U.S., 'Freestyle' drew little response from the Cannes screening audience. "short shortlist" -- but it has no official standing. It's the long shortlist that is screened, in its entirety, each year at Cannes. Straight through, it runs -- like a job -- from 9 to 4 with a half-hour break for lunch. Attendees overflow the Grand Auditorium and some are forced to lounge on the carpeted floors of the Palais like marooned United Airlines passengers, tipping cigarette ashes into Fanta cans and watching on closed-circuit television. It is not a sympathetic crowd, and one that has to be won. Approval is shown by applause, disapproval with whistles, although the latter die down as the reel drags on, replaced with icy silence. Work is weak Word is that the work is weak this year, and it certainly is clear that most of the spots on the shortlist aren't Lion material. You can imagine many of the snubbed spots thriving in their natural habitats -- sandwiched between local newsbreaks and Portuguese re-runs of Cheers. But the clutter at Cannes is of a different kind, and busting through all the gags, quips, injuries, humiliations and double entendres that are trying to do the same is difficult. The crowd seemed to become aware of this by midday, when the whistles were reserved for work that wouldn't cut it in any environment, be it car dealership pitches or white noise. But things did get through. Leo Burnett/London's John West Salmon Bear got cheers as soon as it appeared on screen. Cliff Freeman's Fox Sports work was well liked, as was Goodby Silverstein's ER spot for Discover card, Fallon's PBS campaign and Lowe Lintas' work for Heineken USA. Tailpipe potato Some small campaigns won over the crowd as well. A spot for a comedy radio station by CMI, Los Angeles -- in which viewers are urged to "Leave comedy to the experts" after a bumbling duo accidentally incinerate their friend by stuffing a potato in the tailpipe of his car -- played to a round of laughs. Among the international favorites was a spot featuring a singing cab driver for the Norwegian National Lottery by New Deal DDB/Oslo; a commercial for Sealy Mattress by Leo Burnett/Mexico City in which a hyperactive boy jumps up and down on a bed until he jumps through the split screen and onto a Sealy where he instantly falls asleep; and a Saatchi & Saatchi/Frankfurt ad in which an Elvis impersonator is disappointed to find out that his dashboard Elvis won't swivel its hips in a smooth-riding Audi. Rare tearjerker A rare tearjerker was even slipped past the crowd by DM9DDB/São Paulo. In a spot for a Picasso exhibition, a good Samaritan contorts his face so a blind man can feel what Cubism looks like. Jim Hanas is associate editor of Creativity magazine. © 2001, Crain Communications Inc. Editor@AdAge.com ..