Business Notes Advertising

"Prince, in concert," says the announcer in the 30-sec. rock video, amid flashing lights and screaming crowds. Moments later the viewer sees what all the cheering is about. It is not for Prince, the rock star, but Prince, the tomato sauce, in concert smotheringly with Prince spaghetti. Lawyers for Prince, the singer, were grated. They sent a letter to Joseph Pellegrino, the Lowell, Mass., pasta company's president, complaining that the ad gave the impression that their client had endorsed Prince products. The lawyers asked the 73-year-old spaghetti maker to forthwith stop using the 26-year-old rock star's name in twain.

The commercial was produced by Pellegrino's old friend Stan Freberg, 58, for two decades a master of light satire in advertising. Among his clients: Sunsweet prunes ("Today the pits, tomorrow the wrinkles") and Pacific Air Lines ("Most people are scared witless of flying").

Prince's Pellegrino insists he will keep the ad on the air. Said he last week: "We have the right to use our own name." Freberg believes Prince should "develop a sense of humor." Says he: "In all these years, I've never once been sued. I've never even got an angry letter."