# The use of favorite songs in advertising **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 18, 2004, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-use-of-favorite-songs-in-advertising/235032 "2004-03-18T15:41:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-use-of-favorite-songs-in-advertising/235032/21 "2004-03-19T00:25:06Z")
I totally hate it when a favorite song gets marketed that way, though it doesn’t happen much these days, mainly because my favorite bands (Frank Black and the Catholics, Andrew Bird) seem to fly below the ad agencies’ radars. There were two in the last couple of years that got my goat bad, though: One was the Gatorade ad that used one of Bach’s partitas for solo cello. It’s beautiful music, and in fact was a beautiful ad with cinematography worthy of Errol Morris, but that was one of my _favorite pieces_ and now it makes me thirsty. The other was also a classical piece, in an ad for some tax preparer or something. It opened up with Erik Satie’s Gnossienne #1 (I think it was #1; the really, REALLY slow one). Every time I hear it now, I think of that stupid ad with the woman outside her husband’s office. > [@mhendo](#): > > The one that really pissed me off was when a jeans company (Wrangler?) used CCR’s “Fortunate Son” to hawk their product. Of course, they only played the first line or so: > > “Some folks are born, made to wave the flag > Ooh, they’re red, white and blue.” > > They faded out before it got to the part about : > > “It ain’t me, it ain’t me, > I ain’t no senator’s son.” It was Tommy Hilfiger. Slight nitpick: The next lines, which didn’t make it into the ad, are actually “And when the band plays ‘Hail to the Chief,’/Ooh, they point the cannon at you…” Which is actually even MORE antithetical to the “U-S-A! U-S-A!” image they were trying to project. Assholes. ---
**Author:** ![deb2world](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@deb2world](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deb2world)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-use-of-favorite-songs-in-advertising/235032/22 "2004-03-19T01:00:53Z")
I have no problems with a song being used in a commercial. The popularity lifetime of a song is short. The writer/singer needs to eat, so why not sell their song for commercial use when the poular lifetime of the song has been reached. My preference though is that they should really just use songs from the '80s cause that was such a bad music decade. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-use-of-favorite-songs-in-advertising/235032/23 "2004-03-19T01:52:47Z")
> [@jackelope](#): > > It was Tommy Hilfiger. Slight nitpick: The next lines, which didn’t make it into the ad, are actually “And when the band plays ‘Hail to the Chief,’/Ooh, they point the cannon at you…” > > Which is actually even MORE antithetical to the “U-S-A! U-S-A!” image they were trying to project. Assholes. I did know what the next lines were; it was mainly the fact that they _only_ played the first two lines that was so amusing to me. As for what brand name the commercial was for, a Google search suggests that both Wrangler _and_ Hilfiger have used it. The Wrangler ad was the one that i’ve seen, and it’s been discussed before in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=167776). ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-use-of-favorite-songs-in-advertising/235032/24 "2004-03-19T02:19:49Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > As for what brand name the commercial was for, a Google search suggests that both Wrangler _and_ Hilfiger have used it. Wow. That’s weird; isn’t there some cardinal rule of marketing that says, “Thou shalt not use the same pop song that thine enemy is using”? ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_Heart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@Angel\_Heart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_Heart)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-use-of-favorite-songs-in-advertising/235032/25 "2004-03-19T05:39:10Z")
ITA on Bittersweet Symphony. It’s one of my very favorite songs (as you can see from my sig) and its annoying to hear it used to sell shoes. However isn’t _Rhapsody in Blue_ United’s theme song. At least it was when I was a kid. ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-use-of-favorite-songs-in-advertising/235032/26 "2004-03-19T06:00:26Z")
Around here we we’ve got a cellphone plan called Fido. They’re currently running a promotion giving a cheaper rate for Fido to Fido users. What classic, magnificent, song did they swipe? “Whiter Shade of Pale”! :eek: The freakin’ nerve! ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-use-of-favorite-songs-in-advertising/235032/27 "2004-03-19T06:28:44Z")
It’s interesting the differences in generations. For the most part, most people I know that make electronic music would be more than happy to sell to a commercial, and it helps them to stay, non-commercial ironically, because getting 20,000 for a one time spot in a commercial gets one notoriety if people really like the track, and is a lot more than you can make hawking it yourself. I guess I am pretty much immune to commercials because I remember lots of songs being used in commercials but when I think of Crystal Method’s Busy Child I don’t think of the Gap out of context of this sort of discussion, and I remember that Rob D Clubbed to Death was in a commercial but I Don’t remember what it was selling, probably a car, car commercials are pretty benign because watching a sleek car go around mountainous curves is alright. Erek ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-use-of-favorite-songs-in-advertising/235032/28 "2004-03-19T06:40:30Z")
Many musicians (perhaps most notably Pete Townshend) have defended this practice by pointing out that commercial radio is also, well, _commercial_. So having your song in the commercials themselves is merely cutting the middleman…and funnily enough advertising agencies are often willing to be _more_ daring in their choice of songs than commercial radio stations are! Many radio stations won’t play anything that’s too old, too obscure, or too far outside the mainstream. An advertisement looking to catch the public’s attention can’t be so bland. I know I’ve heard Iggy Pop’s “Lust for Life” on the Royal Caribbean ads far more often than I’ve ever heard it on the radio. I’ve _never_ heard “Search and Destroy” on the radio, but Nike was willing to play it! Since professional musicians naturally wish to both reach and audience and make money from their music, I can’t fault them for agreeing to commercial use of their songs. If radio were better they might not have to make this choice, but that’s a subject for another Pit thread. ---
**Author:** ![DogMom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9c0ed/32.png) [@DogMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DogMom)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-use-of-favorite-songs-in-advertising/235032/29 "2004-03-19T14:00:42Z")
Have any of you heard that insanely annoying “Pepsi” ad that uses the music from “Carmen”? No clue what words the ad-chick is REALLY singing, since all I can make out is the “PEPSI” at the end. But honestly…CARMEN??? And it’s such a BAD version - all schmaltzed up. Yuck. ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-use-of-favorite-songs-in-advertising/235032/30 "2004-03-19T14:16:40Z")
A little part of me died when I heard that “London Calling” by The Clash was used for a while to hawk Jaguar cars. Fortunately, I never saw the commercial … I might have died. ---
**Author:** ![Gotterfunken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/58956e/32.png) [@Gotterfunken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gotterfunken)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-use-of-favorite-songs-in-advertising/235032/31 "2004-03-19T21:05:42Z")
“Pictures of You” was the first song I thought of when I saw the thread title. I don’t really care when commercials use fairly upbeat, “pop” songs. But it really pisses me off to see them use “Pictures of You”–that song and the rest of the _Disintegration_ album hold too much personal meaning to me. Plus it annoys me that ad executives are so lazy they’ll just use any song that somehow mentions their “product” in the title. My favorite example of this was Mercedes-Benz using Janis Joplin’s “Mercedes-Benz” in a commercial. Irony is often lost on them. ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_Heart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@Angel\_Heart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_Heart)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-use-of-favorite-songs-in-advertising/235032/32 "2004-04-06T19:19:07Z")
Bumped to add this link from the Post about Applebee’s ad campaign and the butchering of a classic song: [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53361-2004Apr5.html](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53361-2004Apr5.html) ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-use-of-favorite-songs-in-advertising/235032/33 "2004-04-06T20:18:02Z")
I don’t know what’s worse: them butchering several different songs or them using the _same_ damn song for every product. I never liked this song to begin with but here is the perfect place to bitch. Katrina and the Waves’ “Walkin’ on sunshine”. Holy fucking shit. How MANY products are going to use this awful song in their commercials? Let’s see, off the top of my head, it’s been used for allergy meds, fast food, toys…What’s next? Laxatives? God I hate that song. ---
**Author:** ![vasyachkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c5a1d2/32.png) [@vasyachkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vasyachkin)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-use-of-favorite-songs-in-advertising/235032/34 "2004-04-07T07:54:53Z")
hell yeah. thats cuz your songs ARE cheap. mine never get used in commercials. ---
**Author:** ![threeorange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@threeorange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threeorange)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-use-of-favorite-songs-in-advertising/235032/35 "2004-04-07T18:35:25Z")
It’s bad enough when advertisers sell products by pimping off the pre-existing popularity of a song (to me this indicates a creative bankruptcy in the advertising industry). It’s even worse when the song’s writers get nothing for the use of their creation; I don’t believe that George and Lester Chambers have ever received a dime for any of the numerous times that “Time Has Come Today” has been used. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-use-of-favorite-songs-in-advertising/235032/36 "2004-04-07T19:33:55Z")
My blood used to boil every time I heard one of the Toyota commercials that ended with the tag line from **Everyday People**. I would actually put my fingers in my ears and hum if I knew that was coming up. I just couldn’t stand having the song spoiled like that. And the campaign seemed to go on for years and years… Fuck Toyota’s entire advertising agency up the ass with a saguaro. ---
**Author:** ![carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrot)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-use-of-favorite-songs-in-advertising/235032/37 "2004-04-07T20:10:01Z")
The Beatles’ “Getting Better”, used by Philips to sell electronics. “Got to admit, it’s getting better, Getting better, all the time…” Of course, they manage to neglect the next bit: “Can’t get no worse”. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-use-of-favorite-songs-in-advertising/235032/38 "2004-04-07T20:24:46Z")
I know the first time I noticed something like this that got my goat (and my dad’s too… he was pretty peeved), was quite a few years back now, and Pepsi (I’m pretty sure it was Pepsi and not Coke) used _The Weight_ by The Band in an ad. It wasn’t the original version, it was a ‘made for commercials’ version. The song made so little sense in the commercial that I guess it stood out as really stupid commercial pandering even at the young impressionable age at which I was. ---
**Author:** ![WaryEri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ea666f/32.png) [@WaryEri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WaryEri)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2004, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-use-of-favorite-songs-in-advertising/235032/39 "2004-04-08T05:54:18Z")
When I saw this thread, Garbage’s “Paranoid” used to sell [Snakelights](http://shop.store.yahoo.com/tylertool/blacanddecsl.html) . It was a peppy, male-singer cover, so I couldn’t place it at first. When it finally clicked, it was a very wtf moment. Bend me, Break me, sure…but Shirley Manson has never screamed adjustable flashlight to me. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2004, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-use-of-favorite-songs-in-advertising/235032/40 "2004-04-08T06:10:22Z")
I can’t say that I hate any of the songs being used in commercials (especially by The Who. I mean, they made a _whole album_ of commercials), but there are a few that amuse me. A lot of the Japanese agencies either don’t check what the lyrics are, or figure (rightly) that the majority of buyers won’t understand them. _Blood-black barbed wire, Politician’s funeral pyre, Innocence raped with napalm fire, 21st-century schizoid man._ Drive Toyota [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-use-of-favorite-songs-in-advertising/235032.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-use-of-favorite-songs-in-advertising/235032.md?page=3)