Raisin Profile of State’s Crops Is Goal of Governor’s New Ad
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SACRAMENTO — You could call him the First Farmer, except maybe for the suit.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, in suit and tie and behind the wheel of a 1953 flatbed truck with produce piled in back, pulled up to the Crest Theater in Sacramento on Thursday for the premiere of a TV commercial in which he stars.
The 30-second ad intercuts Schwarzenegger with shots of “real” Californians extolling California-grown products. Buying them, he says, “keeps farmers farming, teachers teaching and the whole state going strong.”
A federal grant funded the $80,000 ad, part of the “California Grown” campaign. Under union rules, the governor -- one of Hollywood’s highest-paid actors -- should be paid about $450 for his time. But sources said any fee would be donated to charity.
At the Crest, he mingled with people dressed as tomatoes, asparagus and a sturgeon. He regaled the crowd with tales of milking cows and picking crops during his boyhood in Austria.
Pressed for his favorite fruit or vegetable, he named tomatoes, raisins (“I am a raisin fanatic”) and grapes, particularly after they’re turned into wine.
Schwarzenegger also confessed that he eats prunes.
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