Saturday, June 03, 2006

More Ad Music

Add these songs to my growing list of tunes used in TV ads, apparently to endear boomers to their products. Does this concept work for you? I find it amusing, but I’m not sure it hooks me up with the products.

“Magic Carpet Ride” plays in a commercial for Wendy’s. Thankfully it isn’t Steppenwolf doing the singing. I’ve always liked that song from 1968 and I’ve liked Wendy’s since my first visit in the 1980s. I don’t see the connection.

By the way, as I searched the Steppenwolf web site looking for song details, I learned I was visitor number 2,038,577 since 1996.

I also tried to determine who sings the version of “Magic Carpet Ride” used in the commercial. I found several websites, discussion groups and blogs seeking the same information. One person contacted the advertising agency for Wendy’s and they won’t say.

Foghat’s 1978 hit “Slow Ride” plays in a Honda minivan commercial. WHAT??? Hard rock = a minivan? That is almost as weird as Zeppelin in those Cadillac ads. And slow ride implies this minivan is underpowered. Am I missing something here?

This one is a bit more obscure. The VFW National Home ran some commercials on Memorial Day using “Can’t You See,” a 1973 song from southern rockers The Marshall Tucker Band. The song had no lyric connection to the organization. They used that flute-guitar combination at the beginning of the song, which set the perfect mood for their message and easily reaches out to mid-boomers and hauls them/us back to the Vietnam era. I guess that’s the point.

Tonight I saw a Pier 1 commercial with the 1969 Isley Brothers song “It’s Your Thing.” I guess they think the title line makes for a good slogan. Do you think they heard the rest of the song?

CHORUS
It's your thing, do what you wanna do. I can't tell you, who to sock it to.
VERSE 1
If you want me to love you, maybe I will. Believe me woman, it ain't no big deal. You need love now, just as bad as I do. Make's me no difference now, who you give your thing to.


Wow, what a perfect song for a company that sells chairs, pillows, dishes and candle holders.

1 comment:

Ian said...

I can't help but wonder what Gen X-era songs will be shilling products in fifteen years when I'm almost f-f-fifty something myself.

Nirvana's "Smells like Teen Spirit" is kind of an obvious choice.

Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun" is ripe for exploitation by a car company, don't you think? Nope, doesn't make sense to me either.

And wait for it...Alanis Morissette's "Jagged Little Pill" for an anti-cholesterol med.

I