Give Me Your Active, Your Affluent . . .

When businesses choose celebrities to endorse their products, they generally opt for world-class sports figures or gorgeous starlets. But a travel-industry ad campaign now airing on Japanese television may prove that graying world leaders of debatable sex appeal can sell with all the pizazz of a Vanna White. Developed by Go*USA, a tourism-industry trade group, the commercial features none other than President George Bush promoting the U.S. as a vacation paradise. Over images of rolling lawns and sandy beaches, Bush touts Hawaii, homegrown Dixieland jazz and, in an endearingly shameless display of personal preference, the wonders of Maine and Texas.

The same ad (minus the Japanese subtitles) appeared on British television earlier this year and was a resounding success. As a result, Go*USA decided to export the commercial to Japan. Last year, taking advantage of a weak dollar, 3.3 million Japanese visitors flocked to the States, creating a near $10 billion U.S. trade surplus in travel and tourism with Japan alone. The travel business and the Commerce Department hope the Bush ad will lure even greater numbers of big spenders to American shores in 1992.