If you’re the kind of person who channel-hops the moment commercials come on television, a visit to the Wexner Center this Friday or Saturday just might be the thing to rid you of that habit. The Wexner Center will be screening the World`s Best Commercials 1998, a 77-minute presentation of blatant, uninterrupted advertising.Hand-picked by 23 jurors at the 1998 Cannes International Advertising Film Festival out of almost 5,000 cinema and television commercials from around the world, these spots prove to be the most daring and humorous to ever be conjured by the creative – and naughty – minds in the advertising world. “It’s one of our more popular events during the year,” said Dave Filipi, associate curator of media arts. Filipi added that this is the seventh time this event has been held and that most of the regular patrons of the Wexner even know when to expect it to screen. The film/video departments usually screens it during the year-end holiday season, in the spirit of keeping things light, he said. The commercials are grouped thematically, under such categories as “Contemporary Issues,” “Popular Culture,” Public Service Announcements” and “Visual Narrative.”Amongst the highlights of the program are three smart Grand Prix-winning Nike ads from the United States which hypothesized how it would be if all athletes were treated like skateboarders. Another eye-opener is one which begins with a montage with a “Funniest Home Videos” quality, showing kids falling over a variety of things, but soon switches focus to the harsh reality of child safety and accident prevention in homes. Some of the commercials also portray more risqué and even obscene situations, to the point where it would be safe to say they will never see the light of day here in the United States. They include an art class’ nude model sporting an erection after getting a whiff of a student’s body spray, a Dutch family enjoying an outrageously lewd song unbeknownst to them, as a call for English language lessons and a bull rider describing his swollen testicles in detail. “For some reason we’re more tolerant of violence than we are of sex,” Filipi said, regarding the restrictions of airing sexually-suggestive material in the United States. “It’s not that big a deal in other countries. For instance England has a limit on how much violence they can show in a movie or on TV, which is the complete opposite here.”European audiences have different expectations of TV commercials, said Maria Troy, associate curator of media arts at the Wexner Center, regarding the high sexual content of European ads. She also attributed the erotic content of overseas ads to competition. “It forces them to come up with sexier and funnier stuff.” The screening, which will be presented on film, is distributed by AdFilms, a cinema advertising company based in Toronto, Canada. Screening times are 7 p.m. this Friday and Saturday at the Film/Video Theater. Tickets are $5 for the general public; $4 for members, students and senior citizens; and $2 for children under 12. Viewer discretion is advised.