It was, on many levels, a real end-of-the-century Bessies show with real ’90s messages ­ don’t drink too much, eat right and shop wisely, keep your balls covered, and if something bothers you, just tune it out.

Although much of that advice was clearly not taken by Bessies celebrants it formed the basis of winning content, with some of the top honors bestowed on ads which promoted moderation rather than consumption, practical men’s briefs, personal sound systems and a cost-conscious grocery store which walked all over the show with some simply, hilariously, effective advertising.

The 34th annual Bessies show, held May 15 at the Sheraton Hotel in Toronto, was a laugh a minute, with Canadian agencies and production talent showing off a genuine knack for solid comedy creative, most done intentionally.

Cars, beer and banks were not among the top honorees and many winning campaigns were next-generation interpretations of last year’s big winners.

Awards also reflected a strong push for Vancouver creative, with some great humor ­ delivered dry or drippy (see ‘Barfcam’) ­ coming out of West Coast agencies and Palmer Jarvis neck and neck with bbdo for most awarded shop.

Leo Burnett’s underthings had the cojones to remain in the awards spotlight for another year, capturing campaign first with ‘Bouncing Boxers’/’Dreams’/ ‘Those Europeans.’ Fruit of the Loom spots also took gold in the clothing category with ‘Sugar Plum Fairy’ as well as a silver and merit award.

The ballsy spots from creative team Elspeth Lynn and Lorraine Tao and creative director Jeff Finkler provided a male-oriented follow-up to last year’s Bessies campaign killer which promised women freedom from oppressive unmentionables.

Directed and shot again by Kessler Irish’s Ron Baxter Smith, the spots effectively capture end-of-century zeitgeist; assuring men that in a cruel world you can at least keep the ‘boys’ literally, if not figuratively, safe, cozy and well supported.

Campaign second went to bbdo (Toronto)’s Sony Canada effort, with youth-targeted spots ‘Shut Up,’ ‘Mary ‘n Barry’ and Miss Kravasnak’ encouraging youngsters to tune in and tune out any incidental and offensive aural intrusions like parents and educators.

The campaign, which employs an array of visual styles to convey its message, also swept the Appliances and Home Entertainment category with gold, silver and bronze wins.

The spots were created by bbdo writer (since moved) Randy Diplock and creative director Larry Tolpin. Diplock’s creative stamp extended through production, directing the spot with production company Zoo tv and dop Peter Hartmann.

The Gold Bessie and Campaign Third went to the little retail campaign that liked to win, the Save-On Foods effort from Vancouver’s Palmer Jarvis and Toronto’s Avion Films. The Save-On spots, ‘Slide Show,’ ‘Manager’s Special,’ ‘Early Riser’ and ‘Wine Taster,’ directed by Avion’s Henry Holtzman, also won gold, silver, bronze and merit in the Retail category.

The spots had been acknowledged earlier at the Marketing Awards with a Multi-Media campaign certificate, a tv campaign certificate and a tv spot certificate for ‘Slide Show.’

Created by Palmer Jarvis creative director and writer Chris Staples and art director Mark Mizgala, the spots employ a crisp, classic comedy style, which Staples says was used to develop a unique brand personality for the food chain. The campaign is also reflective of the increasing willingness on the part of retail clients to undertake humorous, image-oriented advertising.

‘Slide Show’ features an agrarian type seated in a dark room tensely calling out ‘kumquat,’ ‘shiitake mushroom,’ ‘bitter melon’ in response to visual prompts supplied by an unforgiving quiz master, who dismisses the farmer after he misfires slightly on the details about the ph level of the dirt shown on the slide.

The farmer’s performance, which won Linden Gilker a craft award, is a large part of the effectiveness of the spots and of director Holtzman, chosen for his gifts for extracting comedy and real performances.

‘It’s a fine line between funny and dumb,’ says Staples. ‘We needed someone who understands timing and casting and talent direction. Henry is not about flash and flavor of the month technique; he focuses on finding funny people and getting great performances out of them.’

As a confirmation of that skill, the spot ‘Manager’s Special’ features another craft award-winning performance by Anne Hutchinson as the terse waitress not amused by the Save-On manager’s sense of thrift, wielded while ordering breakfast.

‘It’s one of my favorite campaigns,’ says Holtzman from his home base in New York. ‘They’re simple, straightforward ideas and they were great to execute because of that.’

Holtzman, who has done retail comedy for Staples business supplies and T.J. Maxx out of u.s. agencies, says Palmer Jarvis displayed a wealth of talent and an openness to executional input.

This year’s pool of seven Save-On spots was shot in January in Vancouver with local talent, including a former plumber as the Italian wine taster,’ whom Holtzman says had his own ideas about performance. The spots were edited by Leo Zaharatos at Chameleon, with sound by Tantrum.

Palmer Jarvis will build on the award-winning spots with a new campaign this year, also directed by Holtzman.

Another multiple winner popped up frequently in the form of Labatt’s responsible drinking spots, taking the Bronze Bessie, Campaign Certificate, and gold in the Corporate category.

Created at Axmith McIntyre Wicht by creative director John McIntyre, writer Brian Howlett and art director Derek Higgs and directed by Players’ David McNally, the spots take an effectively funny look at the dangers of profligate drinking behavior.

‘Tattoo’ and ‘Ring,’ shot by Andre Pienaar and edited by Norm Odell at Flashcut, feature a pair of young over-imbibers confronting the results of the previous night’s activity, including unplanned nuptials and body adornment.

‘Tattoo’ cool guy Brad Austin received a craft award for his performance in the spot.

With a happy combination of direction, art direction and talent firing on all cylinders, the eminently watchable spots were also cited at the Marketing Awards with a tv campaign bronze and two certificates for tv 30s.

While Labatt scored big for advancing the idea of temperance, encouraging consumption was apparently done best by Molson, which swept the Beverages ­ Alcoholic category with round two of MacLaren McCann’s Canadian ‘I Am’ campaign, created by writer Mark Fitzgerald and creative director Rick Davis and directed by Spy Films’ Pete Henderson.

With no gold awarded in the category, Molson took silver, bronze and two merit awards for ‘Mountain,’ ‘By the Road,’ ‘At the Dock’ (which includes what might be a cryptic nod to the age and perhaps the advertising business with a sampling from the copy: ‘because even lies are part of the truth.’) and ‘The Homecoming,’ respectively.

The first three spots were also cited for craft glory, Bob Fortier’s manic renderings out of The Animation House getting a special nod for animation and Kerry Reynolds cited for art direction. ‘Mountain’ also captured a sound design craft award for The Einstein Bros.’ Jody Colero and Tim Tickner.

In the Automotive category, it was 1995 revisited as bbdo’s Chrysler creative denied MacLaren McCann a sweep for General Motors. M2 took gold for its homage to bad weather in the gmc Jimmy spot ‘Against All Odds’ and was awarded bronze and two merits for next-generation Pontiac ‘Built for Drivers’ spots.

For the gold Jimmy spot, which features a Twister-esque scenario and flying lawn furniture, special effects craft award winner Axyz Edit can answer the question ‘How’d they do that,’ but can it solve the deeper mystery: Is that a man or a woman in the commercial?

The Vancouver contingent, in addition to the Save-On extravaganza, captured a number of honors with comedic-edged spots that have the makings of the beginnings of a ‘Vancouver look.’

Palmer Jarvis’ ‘Barfcam,’ directed by David Straiton out of Aviator Pictures, took the Silver Bessie and was cited for gold in the Leisure category. The spot, by creative director Chris Staples, writer Alan Russell and art director Ian Grais, provides a vomit’s eye view of the internal effects of the kind of overstimulation provided at client Playland’s amusement park, which garnered a craft award for effects, all done in-camera.

Palmer also scored both travel category awards with its ‘Cabin’ and ‘Wheel’ spots for Greyhound, directed by Circle Productions’ Louis Lyne, and the hard-hitting and beautifully shot ‘Typical Day’ for icbc, directed by Circle’s Rob Turner.

Earning a campaign merit as well as silver and merit in the Leisure category were bbdo Vancouver’s hilarious ‘Plastic’ spots for the Vancouver Sun/Vancouver International Film Festival. The spots employ plastic dolls in recreations of commercially successful films like Striptease, While You Were Sleeping and Mission Impossible, the latter featuring a gut-busting delivery of ‘You’ve never seen me upset’ by the Cruise-coiffed doll.

bbdo was also recognized for the immortal lines ‘When you need some comfort/because your bum hurtsŠ,’ with the agency’s ‘Happy Butt’ spot for Dominion Directory, directed by Avion’s Bruce Hurwit, capturing a silver in the appropriate Miscellaneous category.

Vancouver’s Wasserman & Partners was also recognized with a silver in the Government category for its helmet-sporting turtle in a bike safety spot for the Ministry of Transportation and Highways.

Reflective perhaps of the times, the junk food groups were not highly represented at the Bessies. Conspicuous by their absence were a sweet selection of big candy spots or a gold, silver or bronze award in the confectionery and snack foods category; only awards of merit were handed out.

Similarly, the fast-food category went sans burgers and fries this year, opting instead for the kind and gentle Tim Horton’s spots from Enterprise Advertising directed by The Partners’ Film Company’s Michael Cerny.

The spots, featuring the two Horton’s hounds, ‘Sammi’ and ‘Lillian,’ also earned director Cerny and editor Brant Lambermont craft awards in their respective areas of expertise.

In the just plain food category, two Leo’s Pizza Pops spots, created by writer Andrew Anthony and art director Sam ‘Pop’ Sitt, earned silver and bronze.

McDonald’s was on the board with a silver in the Corporate category for Cossette Communication-Marketing’s emotionally draining ‘Jeff Adams’ spot, which earned Jack Neary and David Rosenberg craft awards for writing.

A craft award for cinematography was presented in the Clothing category to Robert Richardson for his work on Bauer’s ‘Creative Writing’ out of bbdo. In the same category was merit winner Terra Footwear, created outside of the agency framework on a freelance basis by Doug Bramah and Brett Channer and directed by Spy’s Pete Henderson.

Rounding out the Clothing category, Timex Canada, the big winner at the Marketing Awards, captured a Campaign Certificate, a bronze and a merit award for the ‘Relay Team’ and ‘Diver’ spots from Ogilvy & Mather.

The remaining campaign merit award went to Roche Macaulay & Partners’ creative for the Evergreen Foundation schoolyard greening program. The spots, directed by Ron Fehling of Fehro Productions, also won gold and silver in the psa category, while the ‘Prison’ spot earned Deborah Prenger a craft award for art direction.

Production and creative stars shared the floor with other talented sods, recipients of the Spiess, Kari and Bob Mann Awards for achievers in various ad areas.

David Huban copped the Kari talent award for his earnest portrayal of an abuse loving hockey fan in ‘Puck Sandwich’ and ‘Elbow Bouquet’ for the Hockey Hall of Fame, which won bronze and merit awards for Pirate Radio and Television and Directors Film Company director Rob Quartly in the Leisure category.

Huban’s charmingly gormless character faces the camera and takes puck shots to the head, which d’esn’t sound all that funny but is actually quite a rib-tickler.

The Bob Mann Award, established in 1992 to recognize achievement in the increasingly crucial and challenging world of post-production, was presented this year to Flashcut editor Bob Kennedy in recognition of his creative and technical wizardry.

Accepting the Fritz Spiess Award was bbdo creative director Michael McLaughlin. Established in 1979, the award is presented to a member of the commercial industry in recognition of lifetime achievement and excellence in their field.