I am just sick and goddamned tired of hearing the same crappy 60’s songs over and over again in commercials/TV shows/movie trailers/etc. Why do the media conglomerates in this country think that 25 year olds are actually appealed by “Twist and Shout?” What fucking idiot out there thinks that we need to hear “My Girl” more than 6,000 times?
And “Unchained Melody/You Lost that Loving Feeling.” Look, I’m sure these songs made your panties cream back in '64, but in all seriousness they are nothing more than overrated pieces of sentimental dreck that very few people under the age of 40 care to listen to. Do you really think that a then 28 year-old Demi Moore in “Ghost” actually swooned over this song? How about a then 26 year-old Tom Cruise in “Top Gun?” What is more logical: he and Kelly McGinnis (sp?) doing the nasty to the Everly Brothers or to Madonna?
“Born to be Wild.” Used effectively once: in Easy Rider. Clueski: Easy Rider was produced back in '69. But I, as a 35 year old man in search of a car, have NO identification with this song WHATSOEVER! Why play it during car commercials featuring 32 year olds? Why not do something radical and daring and play something from the 70’s, 80’s, or even (gasp!) 90’s???
“True Love”. Why? Why? Why? What is the appeal of this crap? How is it supposed to inspire me to buy whatever it is this song is supposed to be selling?
“Sugar Pie, Honeybunch.” SHUT THE FUCK UP ALREADY!!! JESUS H. FUCKING CHRIST ON A POGO STICK, PLAY SOMETHING ELSE FOR GOD’S SAKE!!! JUST STOP IT, STOP IT, STOOOOOOOOOOP IIIIIIIIIT!!!
Fuckin-A, man. The 60’s were forty fucking years ago. Just let it go, willya?
Well, young Mr. Whippersnapper, you’ll just have to put up with the 60’s just like us aging hippies had to put up with those goddamn Tales-from-the-Depression crap.
You’re not very familiar with the present and projected demographics that advertisers have gathered, are you? Mr. 35-year-old GenXer, I regret to inform you that you are severely outnumbered by the 50-60 yo baby boomer crowd. You are also severely outshopped. Within another decade, you (and I, another GenXer) will be rendered completely insignificant to the corporations who generate the most advertising.
With that in mind, yes, it is appropriate and intelligent to put those 60s songs in commercials. Nothing like reminding people what they remember it was like to be young to get them to buy something outrageously expensive that they hope will make them feel that way again.
And anyway, the commercials I have in mind feature 20/30-something actors/actresses. If Depends Undergarments commercials started playing “Unchained Melody”, I’d understand as that is the Boomer demographic. But SUV commercials featuring 26 year olds rockin’ to “Born to be Wild”? Uh-huh, no way. Not buying it.
Fine. Then put Baby Boomers in the commercials. But don’t put some 25 year old whose knowledge of the 60’s doesn’t extend beyond his Doors Greatest Hits album in a commercial featuring a song twice his age.
I don’t notice 60’s music in advertising near as much as I did in the 80’s. I hear techno (Crystal Method, Moby) and Smash Mouth more than anything. Not that I’m complaining - I dig electronica.
Also, I date a 25 year-old whose all-time favorite song is “Cruisin” by Smokey Robinson. Believe me, she gets more than “swooned” whenever this comes on. The age of a song is not always indicative to its relevance.
Hey, when was that song in the Mitsubishi commercial, “Twentieth Century Boy” written? I (a boomer) heard it for the first time the other day and thought, “All right! Some youngsters are writing kickass rock for modern car commercials! Talent did not die with my generation!” Then I googled the song and found it was written by Mark Bolan of T Rex; admittedly, not as ancient as some of the tunes mentioned in this thread, but still perhaps getting up there. What’s the age of that song? Loved it.
They may have it, but they don’t spend it like the boomers, having lived through that little Depression thing-y.
And the commercials feature 25-35 YO’s even though they target Boomers because (warning: gross generalization to follow - but that’s what mass marketing’s based on anyway) that’s how the Boomers see themselves still.
I'm with you man, I really am. But while the WW2 generation has lots of jack, they're victims of Madison Avenue conventional wisdom. That conventional wisdom says, once a person hits age 50 or so, there's no point in advertising to them, because their minds are made up.
75 year old Grandpa may have the money to buy a new car, but the theory says there’s no use gearing ads to him. He’s been buying Buicks for 40 years, and if he ever buys a new car, he’s going to buy another Buick. Grandpa already KNOWS what brand of beer he likes, he already KNOWS what brand of underwear he likes, he already KNOWS what brand of peanut butter he likes, so he’s immune to advertising. Hence, while “Murder She Wrote” and “Diagnosis Murder” and “Matlock” may have high ratings, they don’t make much money, because advertisers aren’t interested in their viewers.
Trivia question: in 1971, CBS cancelled the #1 program in the Nielsen ratings. What program was it?
Answer: “The Lawrence Welk Show.” Welk was staggeringly popular, but since most of his 50 million viewers were old folks, he couldn’t attract many advertisers (Geritol and Phillips Milk of Magnesia was about it).
I know this is OT but it was ABC that cancelled “Lawrence Welk” in 1971. However, around this same time, CBS did dump a lot of highly rated old favorites like “Ed Sullivan”, “The Beverly Hillbillies”, “Red Skelton”, and “Green Acres” for the same reason that ABC axed “Lawrence Welk”–i.e., too many old fogies watched them. Still, this blatant age discrimination was mitigated by the fact that the shows that were part of the CBS “Youth Movement” included such classics as “Mary Tyler Moore” and “All in the Family”.
As for the topic of this thread, I do notice that classic 60’s tunes ARE played a lot less on commercials (probably due to overexposure). What IS played a lot more frequently are 1980’s songs that you hardly heard outside of a college radio station during the decade. This gives the illusion that people then were hipper than they really were. (Phil Collins? Lionel Ritchie? Mr. Mister? Who were they? Hair metal? Never heard it during the 80’s.)
I’m sixteen, and I like hearing the '60s songs, but I don’t like the fact that they’re being used to selling cars and pagers instead of CDs (or records, for that matter).
Has anyone considered that the 60’s genre music in commercials may be there just because a lot of that stuff is now out of copyright and considered public domain? I’t a lot cheaper to put background music in a commercial when you don’t have to pay royalties. Besides, they’re spending all the money on celebs. Just a thought. Anybody know for sure?