I do not gives advertising executives that much credit. I believe they hear a good beat first, and almost never think about the message of the tune. It would take a very headstrong person to ignore public knowledge of the song, but there you have it. 
The Vengence Aria from Mozart’s Magic Flute for a Mac and Cheese commercial. Words fail me.
I disagree. First of all, it’s not ad execs who do the creative part of advertising, it’s copywriters and art directors (and so on) - in other words, creative types that love music and are going to try to get in their favorite songs. They’re fully aware of what the songs mean, but they either realize that most other people won’t or don’t care/find it funny. McDonald’s used “New Slang” by The Shins in an ad a few years ago. It’s no accident that this song contains the lines “New slang when you notice the stripes, the dirt in your fries” and “Godspeed, all the bakers at dawn, may they all cut their thumbs and bleed into the buns.”
Anyone else remember Citibank’s commerical awhile back that had CVB’s “Guardian Angels” playing to kids playing in a sprinkler? Sure, the music is cool, but I bet they chose it simply because of the title. Bastards.
And Modest Mouse “Gravity Rides Everything” was very odd as a car commercial. I guess kind of cool - after awhile.
I just saw “The Power” by Snap used in a commercial for Pampers Feel ‘n’ Learn potty-training pants.
:eek:
I don’t know if I will ever be able to picture "I’ve got the power!" the same way again.
I don’t know what came of it, but back in 2001 or so, the other members of the Dead Kennedys sued Jello Biafra because he wouldn’t agree to let “Holiday in Cambodia” be used in a commercial.
I don’t think I’ll ever be able to hear “The Final Coundown” by Europe again without thinking of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. A basic cable channel (USA?) aired this a few weeks ago and promoted it with incessant commercials featuring the song.
It wouldn’t be so memorable if not for the bizarre contrast of a pompous '80s hair metal anthem with images of fluffy dogs hopping over things while their frumpy, middle-aged owners jogged alongside them in homemade sweaters.
It was Biafra who raised the issue.
He sued the others in 2000, claiming they tried to illegally comandeer Alternative Tentacles assets (they had sued him in '98 for alleged mismanagement of the label and short-changing them on royalties) because he allegedly nixed the use of Holiday in a Levi’s Dockers ad.
The attorney for Klaus, Ray, and Peligro said Levi’s had called one of the 3, but it ended there, and that the Dockers issue is a pretext. The band did not raise the point in their suit against Biafra.
That said, it’s still mind-boggling that Dockers would want Holiday in an ad at all!
Maybe they just wanted the guitar solo.