“Pink Houses” should be able to give that a run for its money.
*There’s a song by John Cougar
Playing on the radio
And I sing along with the chorus
The rest of the words I don’t know
Oh, but ain’t that America for you and me
Ain’t that America somethin’ to see baby
Ain’t that America home of the free, yeah
Little pink houses for you and me*
“When a Man Loves a Woman” is another often misunderstood song. It’s frequently used as a love song when it’s actually an anti-love song.
Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) by Green Day. Billie Joe Armstrong said it’s about a guy breaking up with his girlfriend, conflicted between feeling bitter and being understanding.
Instead, it gets played at weddings, proms and commencements.
That reminds me of the Jeep commercial that uses the instrumental foot-stomping portion of Johnny Cash’s “God’s Gonna Cut You Down”. Not as bad as those two songs, but still – a hellfire-and-brimstone warning against the perils of sin being used to sell cars? Huh.
Wagner’s Bridal Chorus from Lohengrin, a.k.a. “Here Comes the Bride”. The story just ain’t purty.
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Pie Jesu. I’ve heard it used at baptisms. It’s a funeral piece.
And TV show series finales! 
I came in to say this. Soon after the cruise line started playing this ad, The Onion ran an article that said something to the effect of “Company Uses Song About Heroin Addiction to Sell Product.”
Now I’m not gonna lie, I’d definitely sign up for a vacation similar to what’s portrayed in “Lust for Life,” but I’m pretty sure that’s not what Disney Cruise Lines or Royal Caribbean was trying to go for in the ad!
Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Fortunate Son was used in a Wrangler jeans commercial. Of course they only used the first line:
Some folks are born to wave the flag
Ooh, they’re red, white and blue
The rest of the lyrics aren’t really feel-good-patriotic.
Yeah, the very next line is “it ain’t me.”
GE using Sixteen Tons for its clean coal commercial was either hilariously tone deaf or teeth-crushingly infuriating, depending on how you look at it. 'bout as insulting as the babes, really.
Anheuser-Busch has been using the Marshall Tucker Band’s “Can’t You See” for a while now to sell Busch Beer. Busch’s slogan is “Head For The Mountains”, so the lyrics “Gonna climb a mountain / the highest mountain” sure fit with the outdoorsy, clean-as-a-mountain-stream theme of the commercials. The next two lines don’t sound so nice, though: “but gonna jump off / nobody gonna know.”
The Fall’s “Theme From Sparta FC” was used by the BBC for the Final Score, despite the fact that it has lyrics such as “come on I will show you how I will change / when you give me something to slaughter”. “We live on blood / we are Sparta FC / English Chelsea fan / this is your last game”. And something in Greek, which is probably equally objectionable if you’re Greek.
See how I put the full stops after the quote marks? That’s the one true way. Because the sentence-outside-the-quote is more important than the quote-inside-the-sentence, and the sentence-outside-the-quote has finished. It’s interesting to imagine the worst possible marriages of song and advert. “Rise” by Public Image Limited for condoms. Sigue Sigue Sputnik’s “Love Missile F-111” for chocolates. Toris Amos’ “Me and a Gun” in an advert for tampons. Public Image Limited’s “Rise” in an advert for tampons. “Love Missile F-111” in an advert for tampons.
“Tainted Love” in an advert for tampons.
And also condoms.
It’s been said a million times, but “I Will Always Love You” and “Every Breath You Take” need to be included just for their use as wedding songs. And it’s nice to see I’m not the only one who is horrified by “You Are My Sunshine.”
Maybe not the worst, but one of the funniest has to be using “New York, New York” to sell Philadelphia cream cheese (which incidentally is made in Chicago).
Of course, they only use the first line: “Start spreading the news”.
Not necessarily misused, I guess. But whenever Harley riders are shown on TV, they always play Born to be Wild.
Which is why I advocate this song for our national anthem.
There’s more to the song?
There are hundreds of versions, some with additional lyrics, but these verses are almost always the same:
I don’t know if I would characterize it as “creepy” but it’s definitely not a happy song.
Surely the threadwinner must be Janis Joplin’s ironic anti-consumerist Mercedes Benz being used entirely without irony in a Mercedes Benz ad.