Do Ad Agencies Even Listen To The Songs They Choose For Car Commercials These Days?

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Last night I caught an ad for the Nissan Xterra (a SUV) and the opening notes of none other than "Heroin" by the goddamn Velvet Underground served as the soundtrack!

WTF?!

― Charles McCain (Charles McCain), Tuesday, 3 June 2003 16:27 (twenty years ago) link

It would be funnier if they used the bits with lyrics, but they just stuck with the instrumental parts.

― Nicole (Nicole), Tuesday, 3 June 2003 16:31 (twenty years ago) link

why are people still having 'ohmigod I just heard _____ in a car commercial!' reactions at this point?

― James Blount (James Blount), Tuesday, 3 June 2003 16:32 (twenty years ago) link

"Cause I thought "Heroin" was like in the "Top 50 Songs You Shouldn't Use".

And besides, the opening of "All Tomorrow's Parties" is much better suited to the scene in the ad.

― Charles McCain (Charles McCain), Tuesday, 3 June 2003 16:36 (twenty years ago) link

Avant garde doesn't stay avant garde. You have to look in a different place today for 'too cool for TV' than you did yesterday. I don't see any reason, in a world where politicians often say they're 'hooked on' this or that, and a TV announcer might say 'If you're trying to kick the home decoration habit', and where a movie company's logo might reference twinkling syringes (Palace), and where Bush and all the other Pat Batemans out there do cocaine, why a car advert wouldn't use the VU's 'Heroin' knowing full well what they were suggesting. 'Our product is opium, it's pure uncut bliss. We really hope you get addicted to it.' Where's the inconsistency? Isn't that every company's dream, to make you need something you didn't need before? To make the product that will be 'your life' and 'your wife'?

I guess that I just don't know.

― Momus (Momus), Tuesday, 3 June 2003 16:37 (twenty years ago) link

well, that's rather banal, innit

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 3 June 2003 16:42 (twenty years ago) link

I will never be sick of hearing a junkie anthem in a cruise line commercial

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 3 June 2003 16:46 (twenty years ago) link

Ad man: "Everything...EV-E-RY-THING will NOW be used to sell product. We will take your liver and use it to sell Dinty Moore(TM) beef stew. We will take away your gonads and use them to sell Golf Balls. We will take away your SOUL and use it to sell LIFE INSURANCE! BWAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Tuesday, 3 June 2003 16:50 (twenty years ago) link

well, that's rather banal, innit

Even dismissive one-liners can be used to sell cars:

― Momus (Momus), Tuesday, 3 June 2003 16:54 (twenty years ago) link

bono how could you?!!!

― James Blount (James Blount), Tuesday, 3 June 2003 16:57 (twenty years ago) link

anyhow 'hip rock music'='young white people with money'='target demo'='cha-ching'

― James Blount (James Blount), Tuesday, 3 June 2003 16:58 (twenty years ago) link

i want a car called "the unforgettable fire"

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 3 June 2003 16:59 (twenty years ago) link

I want an MLK convertible

― James Blount (James Blount), Tuesday, 3 June 2003 16:59 (twenty years ago) link

Someone should use 'I feel Like A Porsche' by Sightings for an advert

― ss, Tuesday, 3 June 2003 17:07 (twenty years ago) link

Andy Warhol would be pleased with the media in general these days, I think.

― dave225 (Dave225), Tuesday, 3 June 2003 17:08 (twenty years ago) link

I thought it was pretty rad when they used a really raw early Suicide demo as car ad soundtrack. I mean what must of Jim Baker, 63 of Wakefield made of that during the break between Corrie?

― ss, Tuesday, 3 June 2003 17:10 (twenty years ago) link

[post removed at calum's request by a moderator — the fact this partiucalr removal took till the next day relating more to the fact that calum's emailed requests to a rather small selection of the moderators were unclearly expressed, AND that moderator action cannot always be instant and perfectly effectively, ESPECIALLY — human nature being what it is — when it has to be undertaken by the very people calum has spent so much of his time recently mocking, abusing and wasting the time of]

― aunt flo, Tuesday, 3 June 2003 17:12 (twenty years ago) link

So many advertisements use 4'33" it's not funny.

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Tuesday, 3 June 2003 17:29 (twenty years ago) link

anyhow 'hip rock music'='young white people with money'='target demo'='cha-ching'

Why does this never ever ever apply to radio, though? That's what always stuns me about hearing songs like [insert commercial obscurity here] in commercials - that it is absolutely unthinkable to even dream of hearing them outside college radio, and yet advertisers don't hesitate to use them on TV to sell shit (also see hip-hop in the early 80s).

― Patrick, Tuesday, 3 June 2003 18:22 (twenty years ago) link

that, and people who now work at ad agencies were the people who 10-15 years ago liked the sort of left-field stuff that ends up in car commercials. as i've said before, i lost count of how many college-dj/music geek college friends/acquaintances who ended up at NYC ad agencies.

― Tad (llamasfur), Tuesday, 3 June 2003 18:33 (twenty years ago) link

So does that mean that Ad Execs are out of touch with the mainstream? Or just that the mainstream aspires to be as cool as an Ad Exec?

― dave225 (Dave225), Tuesday, 3 June 2003 18:36 (twenty years ago) link

with radio they're trying to get listeners, keep listeners, ie. keep em happy, keep em listening. tv ad's don't have to worry about that - the audience is already there, watching friends or 24 or whatever, they just have to make a good ad that will stick in the mind. most of these songs work really well with the ads, and for the segment of the audience that knows the song they REALLY work. also, hip-rock songs come very, very cheaply (betcha vw didn't pay stereolab as much as cadillac payed led zeppelin).

― James Blount (James Blount), Tuesday, 3 June 2003 18:37 (twenty years ago) link

This may also have to do with the fact that we're conditioned to listen to music differently on TV than on radio, so while you'll probably relegate "Lust for Life" as an upbeat backing track to images of well-tanned young athletic types cavorting on the ocean, if you hear it on the radio you're more than likely to say, "Wait a second!" Although if Carnival Cruises came right out and promised to tie me off and keep me glassy for the duration of my stay, I'd seriously conisder buying a ticket.

TMFTML

― TMFTML (TMFTML), Tuesday, 3 June 2003 18:51 (twenty years ago) link

I have asked for my email accounts to be deleted from this loathesome forum and have recieved nothing but abuse. Under the Data Protection Act I would remind you that I am entitled to this, yet the post continues to be put up by someone hiding under a moniker. I'd like to know why ILM allows people to hide under monikers and steal names while they sit and giggle like schoolgirls as they play on their silly chat room.

I see that you encourage the spamming of other people's accounts and find this behaviour despicable. I shall be alerting every moderator on this thread and be asking, nicely, for the posts to be removed before going to ILM's web host and if need be taking this further. I have asked you to remove the post bearing my personal email details and reveal the person who has posted under my name. I see no respect shown to privacy on this forum only a bunch of thugs looking to harrass and undermine someone's personal account.

― Calz (Calz), Tuesday, 3 June 2003 18:57 (twenty years ago) link

moderators please e-mail calum ****** ******* at cal***@hotmail.com. beat on the brat. [even Calum is entitled to his privacy, James - Martin Skidmore, taking action at Calum's request]

― James Blount (James Blount), Tuesday, 3 June 2003 19:00 (twenty years ago) link

Use of name - please remove. I have emailed about this before and shall continue to do so.

― Calz (Calz), Tuesday, 3 June 2003 19:08 (twenty years ago) link

sit and giggle like schoolgirls as they play on their silly chat room.

Which is NOTHING AT ALL like sitting and giggling like a schoolgirl while talking with your ex about how much you enjoy winding up this board...

Some people dish it out but they don't know how to take it...

There's an easy way to stop being offended by your childhood's soundtrack being used on car adverts. Stop watching TV.

― kate, Wednesday, 4 June 2003 07:35 (twenty years ago) link

'windowlicker' spotted recently on a mercedes ad....why are they always so out of date with this stuff?

― ambrose (ambrose), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 12:46 (twenty years ago) link

The Saturn Ion campaign totally ruined Tiny Spark by Brendan Benson for me. I cannot really blame him tho, he probably made more loot off that one license than he did touring last year.

― Mike Taylor (mjt), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 14:37 (twenty years ago) link

And which car company used Instrumental from the first Galaxie 500 album for their ads?

― Mike Taylor (mjt), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 14:38 (twenty years ago) link

The Bees showed up on a Mars advert in Australia - I'm still mighty impressed by that.

OK, so it's not a car...so sue me.

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 14:52 (twenty years ago) link

I'd like to see Jandek or Whitehouse used to sell cars.

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Thursday, 5 June 2003 02:09 (twenty years ago) link

Whitehouse used to sell cars

"Buick - You Don't Have to Say Please!"
"Citroen - Thank Your Lucky Stars"
"Chevrolet - We're Comin' Up Your Ass"

thanks so much, I'll be here all week

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Thursday, 5 June 2003 02:15 (twenty years ago) link

"Porsche - My Cock's On Fire!!"

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Thursday, 5 June 2003 02:17 (twenty years ago) link

"Ferrari - Roman Strength"

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Thursday, 5 June 2003 02:24 (twenty years ago) link

It's funny to imagine Sterling Smith stalking some ad exec, calling him up at 4 am and breathing heavily into the phone: areyougonnausemysong... areyougonnausemysong...

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 5 June 2003 02:26 (twenty years ago) link

I don't mind them using songs, but I really wish they'd use the RIGHT PART of the song.
Example:Image: Pictures of happy vacationers frolicing in the carribean while the cruise ship looms majestically behind them. Sound: "...of course, I've had it in the ear before..."Hey, I'd buy any product -- feminine hygeiene included -- that used the "I wanna nullify my life" portion of "Heroin" in a commercial. Also, there's this: Click it, you know you want to. ― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Thursday, 5 June 2003 17:05 (twenty years ago) link

three years pass... One of my new favorites - Local hospital using feelgood song of the year to sell its bedside manner: Street Hassle. Maybe if they were promoting their rehab program it'd make sense ... Hey, that cunts not breathing I think shes had too much Of something or other, hey, man, you know what I mean― I know my name is dave, Monday, 26 February 2007 02:48 (seventeen years ago) link I think the real point is that cruises are the new heroin.― Hurting 2, Monday, 26 February 2007 02:53 (seventeen years ago) link Ah, I thought someone might have mentioned the Pogues song in the Cadillac ad aired during the Oscars last night. "Heart full of hate and a lust for vomit" seems fitting for an SUV filled with upper middle class gits though.― patita, Monday, 26 February 2007 22:22 (seventeen years ago) link Ohh, it's gone all 'typing'... Well, since they used The Stooges' "No Fun" to advertise CBeebies, nothing and that means nothing is that surprising anymore...― Mark G, Monday, 26 February 2007 22:26 (seventeen years ago) link If I hear another mobile phone advert soundtracked by some freakfolk bullshit, I'm going to cry.― Dom Passantino, Monday, 26 February 2007 22:29 (seventeen years ago) link The thing a lot of folks miss is that the ad execs in question aren't really using these songs. Not in the way that you, the hyperliterate music fan imagines. They're often just using a few moments of sound in order to create a mood. Sure, it's possible that someone is nicking "Heroin" in order to explicitly invoke the drug reference, associating the product with indulgent depravity. But it's much more likely that they're using the associative qualties of a brief fragment to speak to a large audience that doesn't even know the song. Hip, semi-obscure songs are usually chosen because they're unfamilar (thus cheap, and not cross-branded in the "average consumer's mind"), and because they're evocative. While most people might not want to hear the whole thing as pop entertainment, a moment or two of almost any noise can be quite striking, in the proper context.― Pye Poudre, Monday, 26 February 2007 22:36 (seventeen years ago) link Ohh, it's gone all 'typing'... This, at last, is Lord Custos's legacy.― jaymc, Monday, 26 February 2007 22:40 (seventeen years ago) link You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.