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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 11, 1993                   TAG: 9303110138
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A13   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Short

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YO, ELSIE, WELCOME BACK

Elsie is back as Borden's main spokescow.

The fiftysomething Elsie was given a makeover by the food and household products company, which plans to use her in ads and on packages for its entire line of Borden and Meadow Gold dairy products.

The new Elsie's horns are smaller, her eyes are bolder and she wears slacks rather than dresses as she tends her own supermarket in a new ad campaign for Borden's milk, cheese and frozen desserts.

"She brings a warmth to Borden dairy products that our competitors cannot match," Anthony S. D'Amato, chairman and chief executive of Borden Inc., said Wednesday in outlining plans for Elsie.

The new commercials, which employ Roger Rabbit-style combinations of animated characters and real actors, also feature more modern depictions of Elsie's husband, Elmer, and their teen-age children, Bea and Beau.

Elsie first appeared in Borden's ads in the late 1930s, but had been used only sporadically and not very prominently in the past 20 years.

Borden spokesman Nicholas Iammartino said Borden's research indicated more than half the adults surveyed recognized the character. - Associated Press

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