Remember that thread, about what English sounds like to non-native speakers?
In post 11, lexi posted a link to Adriano Celentano “singing” Prisencolinensinainciusol.
(Such a great song-I added it to my iTunes collection.)
I was shocked to hear it tonight in an X-Box game commercial for Forza Horizon 2.
Who ever decided that was THE song they needed to sell the game? It's not like anyone in the USA would recognize it, probably. It's not even current. It's not even real words!
Anyway, I thought anyone who remembered that thread would get a kick out of it.
Possibly someone used it as a temp track while developing the commercial, as an example of the kind of music they wanted. Then they ran out of time and went with it, not realizing it was complete gibberish because, hey, it’s a catchy tune.
Really fun song that’s more fun if you’ve seen the video. It became a meme about five years ago and I first heard it a couple of years after that because I’m always late to these kinds of things. It’s possible it made it into the commercial because someone remembered the meme.
No. It’s a pretty big national campaign. They didn’t just run out of time on the song, not realizing it was jibberish. They knew exactly what they were doing.
OK, I didn’t know it was a meme. I miss these things, too.
That explains why it was used. Because advertising types are always behind trends. If they’re using it now, you can be sure the target audience is rolling its collective eyes. <[not roll eyes smilie)
Most likely, they used it because it is a catchy tune and does not have lyrics or meanings that can inadvertently send other messages in the ad than the one they intended.
Yeah, compare it to the iPhone using the song “Gigantic” by the Pixies. Apple was trying to make a point about the screen being big, but people who were actually familiar with the song pointed out that it’s about a white girl in love with a big black penis. I’m pretty sure that interracial cock worship wasn’t Apple’s intended meaning on that one.
The mixing of gibberish with the few English words they know makes it even more uncanny valley-ish as you hopelessly struggle to try to understand the dialogue.
Thanks for that one! It’s like hearing a TV from another room, or the next apartment, and trying to figure out what is going on. You can almost figure it out!
If these two aren’t English speakers, they have a great feel for the language. They get the inflections and cadence perfect.
Minor nitpick, but it wasn’t an ad about screen size.
And I’m not sure that the very minor buzz about that Pixies song really affected the campaign very much, if at all, to be honest. Carnival used Lust for Life for a long time. The vast majority of the viewing public remains totally unaware of the meaning behind those two songs.
It seems to me like a perfect choice of song to use for a commercial. You can’t quite understand what’s being said, but it sounds like it ought to make sense, so you pay closer attention to try to understand it. Advertisers love it when you pay close attention to an ad.
<[not roll eyes smilie)