# The best "feel-good" commercial since "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 27, 2008, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-feel-good-commercial-since-id-like-to-teach-the-world-to-sing/454487 "2008-06-27T19:26:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-feel-good-commercial-since-id-like-to-teach-the-world-to-sing/454487/1 "2008-06-27T19:26:29Z")
I’d like to congratulate the people who came up with the Discovery Channel “Boom-De-Yada” commercial (available [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5BxymuiAxQ)). In my humble opinion (am I in the wrong forum?) this is simply the single best commercial of its type since the old “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing” ad for Coca-Cola. [XKCD](http://xkcd.com/442/) has a tribute to it this morning. The ad doesn’t make any claims or assertions about the product it is promoting; it’s just a pure “feel-good” ad. The song and the various images (Adam setting Jamie’s arm on fire, Steve Hawking, the singing astronauts in zero-g) just work together perfectly. Does it work as well for you as for me? ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-feel-good-commercial-since-id-like-to-teach-the-world-to-sing/454487/2 "2008-06-27T19:46:07Z")
I LOOOOVE that ad! I think it’s the best ad for a TV channel I’ve ever seen. It just makes me smile everytime I see it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Helena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c68b51/32.png) [@Helena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-feel-good-commercial-since-id-like-to-teach-the-world-to-sing/454487/3 "2008-06-27T20:08:20Z")
We don’t have cable, but we just got back from a trip in which we stayed in a hotel and got to watch lots of Discovery Chanel (I got to see Cash Cab–yay!). I flew home with that commercial stuck in my head, and I’m sure I was driving my husband nuts humming “boom-de-ada” over and over. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-feel-good-commercial-since-id-like-to-teach-the-world-to-sing/454487/4 "2008-06-27T21:05:38Z")
I have never seen that ad before, and I love it. I even watch Discovery pretty frequently. How did I miss it? ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-feel-good-commercial-since-id-like-to-teach-the-world-to-sing/454487/5 "2008-06-27T21:18:00Z")
I saw the XKCD cartoon first (no cable) and got a sudden wave of nostalgia for camp. The commercial is great. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-feel-good-commercial-since-id-like-to-teach-the-world-to-sing/454487/6 "2008-06-27T22:46:56Z")
I knew what commercial this was going to be about before opening the thread, yay me! I hadn’t seen todays xkcd though, thats great. ---
**Author:** ![ErinPuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@ErinPuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ErinPuff)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2008, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-feel-good-commercial-since-id-like-to-teach-the-world-to-sing/454487/7 "2008-06-28T00:33:54Z")
[There are already some people on LiveJournal plotting to make a video of the xkcd version.](http://community.livejournal.com/xkcd_boomdeyada/) ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2008, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-feel-good-commercial-since-id-like-to-teach-the-world-to-sing/454487/8 "2008-06-28T00:50:43Z")
I can’t help but sing along when it comes on TV. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2008, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-feel-good-commercial-since-id-like-to-teach-the-world-to-sing/454487/9 "2008-06-28T01:03:34Z")
[QUOTE=ErinPuff] [There are already some people on LiveJournal plotting to make a video of the xkcd version.](http://community.livejournal.com/xkcd_boomdeyada/) [/QUOTE] I love recursion… ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2008, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-feel-good-commercial-since-id-like-to-teach-the-world-to-sing/454487/10 "2008-06-28T02:00:25Z")
Okay, how wrong is it that of all the things people love between the commercial and the XKCD version what I love is, “There must be Taft slash fiction.” ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2008, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-feel-good-commercial-since-id-like-to-teach-the-world-to-sing/454487/11 "2008-06-28T02:07:26Z")
Is that Les Stroud (_Survivorman_) with the camera during the first chorus? ---
**Author:** ![ArizonaTeach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@ArizonaTeach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArizonaTeach)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2008, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-feel-good-commercial-since-id-like-to-teach-the-world-to-sing/454487/12 "2008-06-28T02:11:00Z")
I must be dead inside. ☹ (I don’t care for the Coke commercial either) ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2008, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-feel-good-commercial-since-id-like-to-teach-the-world-to-sing/454487/13 "2008-06-28T02:42:34Z")
[QUOTE=BrotherCadfael] The song and the various images (Adam setting Jamie’s arm on fire, Steve Hawking, the singing astronauts in zero-g) just work together perfectly. Does it work as well for you as for me? [/QUOTE] Oh, it’s a cool little promo spot (and yes, the clever self-referentials are a lot of fun \*\*and \*\* serve to cut down on potential treacle factor, e.g. Mackowicz doing the “BOOM-de-yada” just as he fires the grenade launcher 😛 ). And of course, the end tagline: _“ **The World is just awesome** ”_… I first thought\* that\* myself some time over 40 years ago and it hasn’t failed to live up to it… (_humanity_, OTOH, well…) ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2008, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-feel-good-commercial-since-id-like-to-teach-the-world-to-sing/454487/14 "2008-06-28T03:33:15Z")
[QUOTE=Silver Tyger Girl] … and got a sudden wave of nostalgia for camp. [/QUOTE] I got the ‘nostalgia for camp’ feeling when I saw the commercial - we always sang it at camp! Agreed, it’s a great commercial. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2008, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-feel-good-commercial-since-id-like-to-teach-the-world-to-sing/454487/15 "2008-06-28T03:42:49Z")
I love it! But I don’t watch enough of the Discovery Channel to recognize everybody. I guess the “Dirty Jobs” guy and the “Mythbusters” guys are in there, and of course Stephen Hawking. Little help on the others? ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2008, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-feel-good-commercial-since-id-like-to-teach-the-world-to-sing/454487/16 "2008-06-28T07:52:55Z")
[The whole crew](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oetWs78hbSc) ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2008, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-feel-good-commercial-since-id-like-to-teach-the-world-to-sing/454487/17 "2008-06-28T11:00:15Z")
The first “Boom de ah da” chorus is started off by one of the crews from [Deadliest Catch](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadliest_Catch). If you watch the link **astro** provided, you’ll see their captains singing third. Left to right they’re Sig Hansen from the Northwestern, the Hillstrand brothers (Andy and Johnathan) from the Time Bandit, what looks like Keith Colburn from the Wizard, and Phil Harris from the Cornelia Marie. [Bear Grylls](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear_Grylls) from “Man vs Wild” is the one who sings “I love arachnids” in the original commercial. The guy who sings “BOOM de ah da” while firing a weapon is the host of [Future Weapons](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_Weapons). It looks like the guy fighting the tornado might be [Josh Bernstein](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_Bernstein) with a show called “Into the Unknown.” (Mike Rowe used to sing with Baltimore’s opera, as a side comment.) ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2008, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-feel-good-commercial-since-id-like-to-teach-the-world-to-sing/454487/18 "2008-06-28T11:08:08Z")
[QUOTE=ArizonaTeach] I must be dead inside. ☹ [/QUOTE] How cool is it that this response fits the song’s meter perfectly?!?!! ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2008, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-feel-good-commercial-since-id-like-to-teach-the-world-to-sing/454487/19 "2008-06-28T11:09:46Z")
[QUOTE=OtakuLoki] Okay, how wrong is it that of all the things people love between the commercial and the XKCD version what I love is, “There must be Taft slash fiction.” [/QUOTE] I seem to recall a “National Lampoon” article… ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2008, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-feel-good-commercial-since-id-like-to-teach-the-world-to-sing/454487/20 "2008-06-28T23:56:51Z")
I thought [this commercial](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIOW9fLT9eY) for the Volkswagen Cabrio, using the Nick Drake song _Pink Moon_, was understated and lovely. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-feel-good-commercial-since-id-like-to-teach-the-world-to-sing/454487.md?page=2)