NEW HIGHS AND LOWS IN TV COMMERCIALS!
September 20, 2008
Call them offensive, overbearing, intrusive, subversive, anything but innocuous. They are TV commercials that use songs,which either make me happy or angry every time I see them.
Then I see the new series of ads for Target, with the Jonas Brothers, singing the Beatle’s “Hello. Goodbye”, and the hair on the back of my neck starts to bristle. It’s isn’t hard to figure out the appeal of using a familiar song to grab someone’s attention, but it’s important how it’s used or it could have a negative impact, and damage the value of the song forever.
Take “Viva Viagra”…please. If my late friends, Doc Pomus and Morty Shuman, who wrote “Viva Las Vegas”, were alive today, I’m sure they would be amused by the lyric, but I doubt if they would have ever given permission for it to be used.
When I see the Seabond ad for denture adhesive using one of my favorite oldies, “Bye, Bye Love”, with new lyrics that include, “Bye Bye, ooziness”, I fight throwing my bong at the TV! In the early ’70s Del Bryant (now the President of BMI), brought his songwriter father, Boudleaux Bryant (“Bye, Bye Love”, “Wake Up Little Susie”, “Dream”) over to my house to discuss some lyrics I wanted to change in his classic, “Let’s Think About Livin”, and produce with one of my artists.
I sang him the changes I had in mind, which included references to the movie of the year, “Jaws”. He smiled and said he liked it, then he gave me permission to use my changes (without credit or royalty), but not before he said emphatically, “I’ve never given permission to anyone to change any of my songs, but you have maintained the integrity of the song.” I doubt that if he were alive today, that he would allow his lyric to be desecrated in that Seabond commercial.
Finally, the one that really gets to me the most, is the Barclay’s ad that features “What The World Needs Now Is Love”. Maybe it’s because the song has such a strong significance for me. It was a song my friend, Jackie DeShannon, sang to me from the studio as she was recording it, after I had open heart surgery.
One of the most inspiring songs ever written has now been reduced by Barclay’s Bank and investments to this.
“What The World Needs Now is clarity
A little tax efficiency and much more transparency
What The World Needs Now is fresh ideas
More complete advice and shelter from all the nonsense.”
WTF…I can’t believe my pals from the past, Burt Bacharach and Hal David, would push their copyright to the point of extinction, but somebody has. Maybe it’s a greedy publisher, who sometimes has the right to change lyrics at his discretion, depending on the original contract the writer signed.
Anyway, I’ve listed the URLs to commercials I’ve talked about. Like the kids say, “Some are buck…while the others suck!” You can figure out which is which.
Updated Doublemint Ad with Chris Brown http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enJbXlb4zqo
Updated Juicy fruit ad with Julliane Hough http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5U9rSAWBak
Viva Viagra violating “Viva Las Vegas” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vne7ZqfPaD4&feature=related
Target using The Jonas Brothers, hellish “Hello, Goodbye” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tp62MTAyBg4
Seabond adhesive using “Bye, Bye Love”, that’ll knock your teeth out!http://video.aol.com/video-detail/seabond-commercial/1981711158/?icid=VIDURVENT08
Barclay’s Bank brutalizing, “What The World Needs Now” http://www.youtube.com/watchv=2RnmJ6MoOi8&feature=related
Filed in Uncategorized
Tags: "Hello Goodbye" Jonas Brothers video, "Viva Viagra video, Barclay's "What The World Needs Now" video, Chris Brown Doublemint video, Chris Brown's new video, Jonas Brothers Target video, Julianne Hough Juicy Fruit Video, Julianne Hough's new video, Seabond "Bye Bye Love" video, Swiffer Sweeper "Baby Come Back" video
September 20, 2008 at 4:35 am
Well, I work for Target…and i kind of like the version of Hello Goodbye that we use in our ads…. but we also have it in use with the slogan “hello goodbuy”…meaning that you’ll get a good value with your purchase at target….
However one that has been bugging me is some diaper commercial that uses the Youngbloods’ Get Together…. i saw it on tv while i was in the breakroom at work one day and told my boss, “i dont think that’s what the youngbloods had in mind when they recorded that song”, and he seemed surprised that I knew a song from his era…
September 20, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Well I work for Barclays (in England) and I agree the iShares commercial is absolutely unforgivable, especially in the current banking climate… I do love American commercials though, mostly for the fact that half their length is taken up with disclaimers 🙂
September 20, 2008 at 1:46 pm
“I’m Free” by the Rolling Stones for Chase Credit Card.
Yes, now that I have this 17.99% vigorish that it will take me 20-years to get this bloodsucking leech off my back, I’M FREE.
The classic is “Lust for Life” by Iggy Pop on Royal Caribbean Cruise.
“Here comes Johnny Yen again
With the liquor and the drugs
And the flesh machine
He’s gonna do another striptease.”
Yes, pack your bags, Junior! This sounds like a wholesome family cruise, here…
September 20, 2008 at 4:41 pm
PS–I gotta admit the Swiffer ads are brilliant–especially the one where the broom has a path of roses laid out to the hot tub.
That is some funny shizz, right there,,,
September 21, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Does anyone care to way in on why the authorship one
of the most popular pieces of popular advertising
music has consistently been misrepresented?
It’s been said that Barry Manilow wrote this Jingle,
not true… It’s been said that Kenny Karen wrote this
Jingle, again not true, clearly if you go by his ASCAP
records there is no such song in his catalog. So why
then are the actual writers and producers, of one of
the most successful advert campaigns in history, not
given proper credit?
It’s a simple fact that “We’re Together” aka “You
Deserve A Break Today” aka the “McDonalds Theme” was
written by Kevin Gavin, Albert Ham, Nathan Kipner and
Sidneye Woloshin and produced by the Gavin & Woloshin
Advert team w/Albert Ham. The original television
vocals were the Hillside Singers (Television) , Barry
Manilow (Radio/Television) , Jimmy Radcliffe (Radio/
Television).
Hoping to create an equally successful campaign, after
the initial push with the Hillside Singers, Gavin &
Woloshin set about the task of producing alternate Pop
and R&B, as the term “Soul” was now passe, versions.
All things considered I’d say they accomplished their
goals and yet for some reason the true creators don’t
get much kudos, outside the advertising world, to this
day. For me the importance of the actual story behind
this classic bit-o-history is obviously about my
father’s musical legacy… Oh and selling books, but
also about historic accuracy and giving credit where
credit is due. Sid Wolshin was a great friend and
admirer of my fathers and a brilliant songwriter and
storyteller to me.
Jimmy Radcliffes R&B version, produced
3/31/71, is now on YouTube:
Artie is right! there are some wacky things going on
in commercial Jingle music uses these days. If you get
the chance get a copy of Steve Karmen’s book “Who
Killed The Jingle? – How A Unique American Art Form
Disappeared” for an amazingly, funny and interesting
look inside the advert music world by The undisputed
“King Of The Jingle”.
Chris Radcliffe