The current ads for Hormel where they totally and shamelessly rip off Weird Al’s parody My Bologna (even down to having an accordion player singing the song) certainly isn’t going to have me rushing to buy their “pepperona”.
Before anyone says, oh well, ripoff of a ripoff, it’s different in many ways from what Al did when he parodied My Sharona. Al gets permission (baring a few cases of miscommunication regarding artists vs labels) even if as parody he doesn’t strictly need to. Further, Al actually changed the song into being about something new, from being about pining after a girl, to a silly tribute to a luncheon meat. All Hormel did is change which variety of processed meat is being sung about. Ripoff, not parody. And unless I’m mistaken, the original song by the Knack didn’t have an accordion arrangement, that was all Al’s doing, mainly because that’s the only instrument he knew how to play and it was before he had a full band to back him up. Rip. Off. Fuck you, Hormel.