By Ed Kemmick/Last Best News

A television commercial for Johnnie Walker whiskey—the opening and closing scenes of which feature the mountains of Paradise Valley—is among five nominees for the Location Managers Guild International’s outstanding locations in a commercial award.

In a press release, the Montana Film Office also said that Montana-based production professionals helped make the ad.

The ad, which first aired right around the time of the November election, features a spoken recitation of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land,” starting with the ordinarily omitted lines about trespassing.

It’s also a surprisingly political ad, given the timing of its release, about inclusion, diversity and immigration—all of which messages are delivered obliquely, tied together by Woody’s great song.

You can watch the ad here.

Ed Kemmick has been a newspaper reporter, editor and columnist since 1980. Except for four years in his home state of Minnesota, he has spent his entire journalism career in Montana, working in Missoula, Anaconda, Butte and Billings. 

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