Comercials that usurped songs

[Neidhart]

“Button Up your Overcoat” I thought of throughout my childhood as the Ocean Spray song.

“Gray skies are gonna clear up, put on a Windex shine”, err, “happy face.”

[Rhythmdvl]

@Biggirl

Was I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing written for Coke? I don’t think so. I remember performing it in Glee Club oh sooo many years ago, it was presented as a folk song. But now, whenever I hear “That’s the song I sing. . .” I ALWAYS follow it with “Coke is!”

Per Wiki

“I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)” is a pop song which originated as a jingle in the groundbreaking 1971 “Hilltop” television commercial for Coca-Cola. The song, produced by Billy Davis and performed by The New Seekers, portrayed a positive message of hope and love sung by a multicultural collection of teenagers on the top of a hill. It originally included line “I’d like to buy the world a Coke” and repeated “It’s the real thing” as Coca-Cola’s marketing theme at the time. It was so popular it was re-recorded by The New Seekers and The Hillside Singers as a full-length song, dropping references to Coca-Cola, and became a hit record. The version by The New Seekers reached #1 in the U.K. and #7 in the United States. The Hillside Singers’ version was released as a successful single the same year; it reached #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #5 on Billboard’s Easy Listening chart.

There’s a bit more on the background there – interesting stuff.

[Greg_Charles]

@Polycarp

I always thought it was the quintessence of irony that that song, about keeping one’s integrity, was bought to sell trucks.

Sort of like “What Have They Done To My Song?” being pressed into service by Quaker as “What have they done to my oatmeal?”

[Nzinga_Seated]

@joebuck20

Also “How You Like Me Now” by the Heavy in that KIA Super Bowl commercial where the giant stuffed animals go to Vegas.

Usually, I could care less about if a commercial uses a well loved song, but this bothered me. I think it is because I have savored this song and worked hard not to overplay it on my ipod.

[Biggirl]

@Rhythmdvl

Per Wiki
There’s a bit more on the background there – interesting stuff.

Aha! M post doesn’t really belong in this thread, then. Sooooo. . . never mind.

[Sparky812]

Shout - The Isley Brothers (Stain Remover)
Wash Away - Joe Purdy (Some kinda detergent)
Right Now - Van Halen (Pepsi Clear)
I Melt with You - Modern English (Too many products)

[Gyrate]

@Greg_Charles

Sort of like “What Have They Done To My Song?” being pressed into service by Quaker as “What have they done to my oatmeal?”

Heh. And here I thought Mercedes using Janis Joplin’s “Lord, Won’t You Buy Me A Mercedes Benz” was the epitome of irony…

[Ludovic]

I’d like to teach for world to Sing was not only originally a commercial, it’s come around a complete 180 for myself, personally. The ad has been usurped by the song Coke by Flickerstick, whose chorus references most of that line but in a rock context (and the song starts with a vocoded “it’s the real thing”.) So now when I think of the ad song I think of the Flickerstick song instead.

[Biggirl]

@Gyrate

Heh. And here I thought Mercedes using Janis Joplin’s “Lord, Won’t You Buy Me A Mercedes Benz” was the epitome of irony…

I kinda dug that. I’m all for advertisers being upfront with their agenda. It was as if Mercedes was saying yeah, poor people pray for our cars but you-- YOU can buy one!
As for Perfect Harmony not being a jingle first, wiki disagrees.

[cochrane]

@Rhythmdvl

Per Wiki
There’s a bit more on the background there – interesting stuff.

The version by the New Seekers exhales bodaciously, in my opinion. I prefer the Hillside Singers’ recording. It keeps the “It’s the real thing” line and is a more finished recording.

[Polycarp]

@cochrane

Actually, Seger, a native of Detroit, explicitly licensed that song to GM to help the U.S. auto industry and to keep American auto workers employed.

Bob Seger - Wikipedia

Thanks. That makes me feel a lot better about the use of that song.

[rivulus]

A couple of people have mentioned Copland and beef.

I wrote my Master’s thesis on Copland’s Rodeo. (And Billy the Kid, actually. On the choreographers’ collaboration with Copland, to be specific.) Needless to say, I listened to the last movement dozens, maybe even hundreds of times. And every damn time it ended, I couldn’t help but think “Beef. It’s what’s for dinner.”

It’s a great pairing of music and message.

p.s. I still find it ironic that the music people think of as most iconically American was written by a gay composer from Brooklyn.

[notfrommensa]

Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Simple Man and Busch Beer.

[JimOfAllTrades]

This has happened at least twice for the William Tell Overture (not counting it’s use for the Lone Ranger).

Once for Lark Cigarettes, and again for Gino’s Pizza Rolls (although I believe the Pizza Roll use was a deliberate parody of the cigarette commercial).

[Snooooopy]

@ZipperJJ

“Turkey in the Straw” - Murphy’s Oil (“now the dirt is finished but the finish is fine”)

Yeah, that’s the first one I thought of when I saw the thread title.