Best songs written for commercials

Cafe Society
1

This must have been discussed before but I haven’t been able to find such a thread. What’s your favorite song that was written for a commercial? I’d like to limit this to songs that were newly written for a commercial, not just great songs that already existed and were appropriated for use in a commercial.

I was thinking about this when remembering this 7-Up commercial from 1970, which was part of 7-Up’s “Uncola” advertising strategy at the time, positioning themselves as the cool, hip alternative to Coke and Pepsi. It was not only a cool song (or so I thought at the time; today it seems good but not great to me), it also inspired a fad for these Balafire light bulbs mounted in soda cans. I had one in my room until it broke.

2

I like “Times of Your Life”, by Paul Anka, originally a Kodak ad.

Sorry, can’t do the YouTube embed OP did, so put the link to the video in the song title.

3

“Be Like Mike,” written for a Gatorade commercial, about Michael Jordan. The ad was created, and the song lyrics written, by a friend of mine.

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5

Do jingles count?

6

I liked the “Land of Sky Blue Waters” song in the old Hamm’s beer commercials.

7

See the USA in Your Chevrolet / Dinah Shore

8

That Coca-Cola commercial song was the first thing I thought of.

9

Same.

10

Roger Nichols and Paul Williams (“The Rainbow Connection”) co-wrote “We’ve Only Just Begun” for a bank commercial. Williams sings on the commercial’s version.

The song would soon after be famously covered by The Carpenters.

11

The Dr. Pepper song was pretty . . peppy. I remember we made up a dance to it at Girl Scout camp.

Wouldn’t you like to be a pepper too?

Another one with a good beat that’s easy to dance to

The big fig newton

12

Here’s the tricky part. :smile:

(Didn’t even have to access the clip.)

13

“Feelin’ 7-Up, I’m feelin’ 7-Up…”
First 30 seconds of this clip:

14

Although it wasn’t used in an official commercial, I think The Who’s Odorono is worth a mention. (yes, it is a real product :sunglasses:)

15

  As soon as I saw the thread title, I immediately thought of this one.  In its original form, as an advertising jingle, it was a remarkably good song, but then Karen Carpenter sang her version of it, and…

  Alas, a voice and a talent like Karen Carpenter comes along only a few times in a generation, at most.

16

So you mean actual songs and not jingles?

17

I’d say jingles are acceptable for this thread. A jingle is just a short song.

18

Mr. Bubble and the Bubbairs has been stuck in my head for decades.

Nestle $100,000 bar from 1979.

(I was going to post a link to the Enjoli Perfume “I’m A Woman” commercial, but discovered it’s a cover of a Leiber and Stoller song made popular by Peggy Lee.)

19

Quentin Tarantino used this radio ad for Heaven Sent perfume in the film “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”:

20

This Texaco jingle sounds like an anthem: