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.
A Little Something I Wrote
3 months ago
1 comment:
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
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