My kid is sick and I’m letting her veg out on the couch watching tv.
There was a commercial for a Barbie toy of some kind. And I wasn’t paying close attention, but I’m almost certain I heard this right: They were using the song “Barbie Girl” in the commercial! Or at least, using the tune from that song.
Can anyone confirm this? Am I going nuts?
Didn’t Mattel sue Aqua over the song?
Yeah. That’s what weirds ME out about this. Now it’s good enough for you to use?!
After the suit failed, they probably managed to buy the rights to it and changed the lyrics. My guess, anyway.
What’s weird about the lyrics change is, it continues to express unironically what the original tried to express ironically. Removing suggestive language hardly did the trick as far as making it make sense for Mattel to use the song.
I just don’t understand how the world works sometimes. How does this look like a good idea to anyone?
Americans have a notoriously short attention span, and the ads are directed at 8-year-old girls. Most people that I’ve mentioned the lawsuit to in casual conversation had never heard of it.
Also, Mattel probably thinks it makes them look hip and groovy: See? We’re a big greedy corporation with a sense of humor!
Plus, bonus payoff when she grows out of Barbie dolls and can appreciate the irony of the original song.
“Oh my gaaaawd! I had no idea that’s what this song was about!”
GI Joes aren’t big enough to do Barbies anymore, are they?
Reminds me of the time a TV manufacturer (Phillips?) used as their jingle a Beatles song that goes “I’ve got to admit it’s getting better, a little better all the time” but then left off the next few words about how it couldn’t get much worse.
As opposed to that cruise line that took Iggy Pop’s ode to meth addiction Lust for Life and used in their ads?
They’re just trying to get an ear-worm stuck in your head that makes you think of their product - almost by any means necessary…
The second-worst example of this would be any politician ever who’s used “Born in the USA” as a patriotic song at campaign appearances.
I say second-worst, because the absolute worst example was when Philadelphia Cream Cheese (which, incidentally, is made in Chicago) was using “New York, New York” as their theme.
That’s it’s an ode to meth is not referenced in the wiki on the album. They say if anything it’s intended as something of a redemptiver song. Where do you get the “ode to meth” connection?
How about a love song with reference to Sid and Nancy?
Hey sugar momma, come and dance with me
The smartest thing you ever did was take a chance with me
So whatever tickles your fancy
Girl, it’s you, like Sid and Nancy
I used to think that “Barbie Girl” was actually a Mattel jingle. Mind you, at age eight I probably wouldn’t know irony if it dropped a cow on my head.
Which video has the song? (Edit: Nevermind, found it)
BTW, Barbie and the Three Musketeers seems like an incredibly lame Shrek-wannabe.
Mattel actually has been using the phrase “Barbie girl” in their advertising for the past couple of years, but I didn’t connect it with the song they tried to force off the market until they started using it in their ads.