There was once a time when I could pass an entire day, even a week, without absentmindedly shilling for some store or product brand. Those days are long gone. The Japanese Jinglesmiths have, for some time now, proven the better of my subconscious. Whether it is a simple little catchphrase or a complete tune. Two years ago I could not say the phrase “Ii n da yo” (It’s good/okay) without following up with “GREEN da yo!” in order to imitate a catchy series of ads for Kirin Green Label Beer. Meanwhile, the jingle for the electronics store chain Yamada Denki was so nauseatingly peppy and cute that I could not resist singing along while browsing. And now, having plunged headfirst into Niigata Prefecture, I find a jingle that has managed to stick into my brain even far outside of the store:
I present the Komeri Home Center jingle. [mp3 link] Even if you don’t understand Japanese, the chorus is too much damn fun to resist.
Maybe it is just me. Maybe I’m just wired just right (wrong?) for them. But, for the love of all that is musical, I cannot get some of these damn songs out of my head. My coworkers look at me like I’ve lost my marbles when I sit at my desk quietly singing, “Kokkokokokekko! Kekko desu ne, Komeri!” (Kokkokokokekko! Isn’t it wonderful? Komeri!) to myself.
Do any other Dopers have some recent jingles that have caught them off-guard like this? Any jingles that have been so damn catchy you just have to sing along?
Hardly. I had a terrible time ridding my self of the Subway, “Five-Dollar-Foot-Long” commercial. The one that I just had to sing was for the Discovery channel. The boom-de-adda one. It drove me nuts but I just couldn’t help singing along and I would catch myself humming it at the oddest times.
Yeah, “Five…five dollar…five dollar footlongs” is a bit of an earworm for me these days.
The other one that was very sticky over the past few months was when one of the automakers (Toyota, I think) was using the old Fixx song “Saved By Zero” to tout zero-percent financing. It didn’t help that those ads got played to death, but it got to the point where there was public outcry (including a Facebook page) pleading with them to stop running those ads!
Oh, yes, the Discovery Channel jingle was relentless. I also tended to make up new verses for it unconsciously. It had been successfully pushed out of my head until now. Thanks, guys.
