Earworms: Music in Commercials

[erikdepressant]

I hate Uncle Ben's commercials.  We normally wouldn't see a world of sock people unless it was in a commercial for a pill that treats a chronic medical condition (like Pipes World for OAB, Inflatable Plastic World for COPD, or Origami World for diabetes).

 

The first one annoys the shit out of me because of the innocent, syrupy singing:

 

But the second one with the mousy singing is earworm hell:

 

As soon as it comes on, I know I'll have the damn Ace of Base song stuck in my head for an hour... 45 minutes of that will just be the opening notes over and over again...

 

NEITHER original song has anything to do with parenting OR rice.  "The Sign" is about leaving a bad relationship.  And "Show Me the Way" has some lyrics that parents should not sing to their kids.  Fail.

[mmecorday]

Those Uncle Ben commercials confound me too. I swear every time they air, I wonder what they're advertising. They look like those cheap movie shorts that the guys from Mystery Science Theater 3000 would mock.

[Brattinella]

On 4/18/2016 at 9:29 PM, Sun-Bun said:

Holy crap, I just can't anymore with this one---the chick singing some godawful twee hipster version of "If I Only Had a Brain" on those new University of Phoenix ads...sweet Jesus, the stupid music coupled with her stupid voice just makes my toes curl...I literally want to find that woman and throat punch her every time I'm forced to hear that lousy commercial. Her baby-talking silly schoolgirlish chatter mixed with her hyper-affected lilting voice, ugh, who thought that was remotely charming??!!

I look forward every year to the TV airing of the Wizard of Oz.  It is one of my better childhood memories.

THIS travesty that this nails-on-a-chalkboard  isn't even SINGING.  I wish they would retire this ad; it runs all the time.

[Rick Kitchen]

So I'm watching this video and all of a sudden, I'm going, "Holy crap, is that Rita Moreno?"

 

https://www.ispot.tv/ad/AfQb/target-show-off-your-way-targetstyle-song-by-bomba-estreo

[Brattinella]

Yes!  I saw this one today, Rita Moreno for sure!

[LoneHaranguer]

15 hours ago, Brattinella said:

Yes!  I saw this one today, Rita Moreno for sure!

I'm a little puzzled why they'd run an ad in Spanish where they've neglected to translate their catchphrases.

[Rick Kitchen]

Dreyer's ice cream is running an ad with this version of the song "True Colors" playing behind it.  I can't find the ad, but I like this version.  I thought it was Dolly Parton at first, but her name is Lily Juniper.

 

[friendperidot]

re the "If I Only Had A Brain" commercial, I've made my own lyrics: "Life is short, talk is cheap, I'll be working while I sleep, because there are no brains." Ok, it doesn't really fit at the end, but I've tried.

[beadgirl]

I hate that commercial so much.  Not just for the twee, over-articulated, too-many-syllables singing style, but the smugness in the lyrics (other people have lots of kids, too, lady, and work two jobs, and work while you're sleeping).  Not to mention the fact that U. of Phoenix is an awful, reprehensible institution.

[Jaded]

Just now, beadgirl said:

I hate that commercial so much.  Not just for the twee, over-articulated, too-many-syllables singing style, but the smugness in the lyrics (other people have lots of kids, too, lady, and work two jobs, and work while you're sleeping).  Not to mention the fact that U. of Phoenix is an awful, reprehensible institution.

I hate the part where it talks about taking 3 bullets to the chest and then shows a guy with a scar. What does getting shot have to do with going to school?

[DeLurker]

Think the attempt is to say it is a way for ex-military to go to school. 

[CoderLady]

I've been reading all the posts about the UoP ad for weeks now and had never seen the ad. I'm either very lucky or maybe I live in an area where it doesn't run. I'm in Silicon Valley -- has anyone here seen it?

Anyway, I went to YouTube to watch it and good God, it's as bad as y'all say. At least if it ever does come oozing out of my TV live, hearing the distinctively annoying singer will alert me to get to the mute button pronto. And seeing that woman at the end give the security guard the finger -- ugh.

[Jamoche]

2 hours ago, CoderLady said:

I've been reading all the posts about the UoP ad for weeks now and had never seen the ad. I'm either very lucky or maybe I live in an area where it doesn't run. I'm in Silicon Valley -- has anyone here seen it?

Anyway, I went to YouTube to watch it and good God, it's as bad as y'all say. At least if it ever does come oozing out of my TV live, hearing the distinctively annoying singer will alert me to get to the mute button pronto. And seeing that woman at the end give the security guard the finger -- ugh.

Silicon Valley too, and I've seen it a lot. Probably during Judge Judy, that's the usual place for ads like that.

[erikdepressant]

Benj Heard's "Having a Good Day" is a major earworm in this Kentucky Tourism commercial:

It usually gets stuck in my head during the daily shitfest at work, and I start singing it with bitter irony.

[smittykins]

"Puppy Chow, for a full year, till he's full grown."

[BennyB]

No earworms from the Chase commercial?

I'll admit I had to look up the lyrics....knew it was reggae, but had a hard time with words!

[NewDigs]

On May 11, 2016 at 11:29 PM, BennyB said:

No earworms from the Chase commercial?

 

I'll admit I had to look up the lyrics....knew it was reggae, but had a hard time with words!

Not yet at earworm level for me but I always recognize the tune after the first couple of notes and always look up to watch that darned sweet little commercial.

[DeLurker]

Don't know what it is a commercial for, but one that I heard today was using Baby Elephant Walk by Henry Mancini.

Took me a minute to figure out what that familiar tune was, but when I finally did it made me happy since I loved that song as a child (I was an odd child) and I hadn't heard it nor thought about it in at least a couple of decades.

Edited May 22, 2016 by DeLurker
Because a "d" for "s" in song is wrong. Funny, but wrong.

[smittykins]

So that's what that song is called!  I knew I'd heard it before, but not the title.

And I can't remember what the commercial is for, either.

ETA: According to a YouTube comment, it's Range Rover.

Edited May 22, 2016 by smittykins

[friendperidot]

A hundred years ago, or so it seems, I saw an interview with Henry Mancini, he was asked why he wrote the tune or why he named it that, don't really remember it was about 100 years ago. But his answer, I remember, he said, "have you ever seen a baby elephant walk?" So that's how I remember the song.

[Rick Kitchen]

Well, the song was used in the movie Hatari, about a veterinarian in Africa, and it was used during a scene with a baby elephant.  I don't know which came first.

[Rinaldo]

Yes, the instrumental piece (I'm not aware of it ever being adapted as a song, but maybe somebody has) "Baby Elephant Walk" was written for that scene in Hatari!, so whatever interviewer asked Mancini why he wrote it and why it has that title didn't do any homework. I hadn't thought about it for decades, so I'm happy to be reminded of it. 

[ratgirlagogo]

The first two pieces of music I ever remember being crazy about on the radio were Baby Elephant Walk and the theme from Never On Sunday.  When I was in kindergarten I would go nuts when they came on the car radio (yes, they were current hits at the time).  

[ivygirl]

Every time I hear the Target-ized version of "Genius of Love," I think of the original, which has some very non-family-friendly lyrics.

"Whatcha gonna do when you get out of jail? "I'm gonna have some fun!"

"we went insane when we took cocaine..."

[Bastet]

Similarly, some company is using In the Summertime in its commercials, and, yes, it's a catchy tune and they're not sampling the offensive lyrics, but since I know the song I can't hear any part of it without hearing in my head, "If her daddy's rich take her out for a meal, if her daddy's poor just do what you feel."

[Jamoche]

Bay Area earworm: I've had to put up with "On the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk in the warm California sun. Boardwalk!" for as long as I've lived here. Fine, whatever. But this year they replaced the pro singers who do sound like a 60s beach band with amateurs. Kill it with fire.

[Brattinella]

I MISS the Boardwalk! :((

[annzeepark914]

I am so sick of hearing the PNC commercial "music".  It's played during Nationals games & has been played for several years now.  It actually isn't even a real song IMO, just ditzy irritating pingy notes.  Maybe it's only played in the Washington DC metro area?  Can't grab the remote & mute it fast enough ;>(

[mmecorday]

In the 1980s, David Bowie was a mover and Kurt Vonnegut was a shaker. All set to the music of ELO:

[ratgirlagogo]

On 6/6/2016 at 9:45 PM, ivygirl said:

Every time I hear the Target-ized version of "Genius of Love," I think of the original, which has some very non-family-friendly lyrics.

Every time this comes on Mr Rat and I sing the original lyrics.

[janie jones]

I'm so fucking sick of the song in this ad.  (I've never seen this extended version before, only the shorter one).  The kids are cute though.

 

Also, in other news, I have a niece who's allergic to a particular red food dye, so all I think of when I see the end of that commercial is how the mom is going to politely tell the boy that the girl can't eat any of that, because they don't know what's in it. 

Edited June 24, 2016 by janie jones

[Prevailing Wind]

I used to work with a woman whose granddaughter was allergic to corn.  Edith said you have NO IDEA how much candy is made with corn syrup. Poor kid never got any candy.

[mmecorday]

Two hour delivery? Two? I can understand the need for such swift delivery if these people lived on a ranch in the middle of nowhere, but they live in a residential area that probably has a supermarket nearby. And that song is terrible. It sounds like something Norah Jones wrote while on Ambien.

[friendperidot]

thank you mmecorday! 

Quote

And that song is terrible. It sounds like something Norah Jones wrote while on Ambien.

I've had a few really s**ty few months and today got worse, so thank you for the laugh.

[InDueTime]

The "Rock-a-Bye" song in the Sealy ads is really grating to me.

[Brattinella]

Quote

The "Rock-a-Bye" song in the Sealy ads is really grating to me.

Seriously.  That needs to stop; it makes my ears bleed.  Especially the stretch of rhyming Hy-BRID.

[meep.meep]

On 5/22/2016 at 11:49 AM, Rick Kitchen said:

Well, the song was used in the movie Hatari, about a veterinarian in Africa, and it was used during a scene with a baby elephant.  I don't know which came first.

 

Hatari is not about a veterinarian in Africa, it's about a group of people in Africa who catch live animals for zoos.  The catching sequences were mimicked in the second Jurassic Park movie.  They are spectacular.

By the end they have three baby elephants.

It was my kids favorite movie growing up.  

[Moose135]

22 minutes ago, meep.meep said:

Hatari is not about a veterinarian in Africa, it's about a group of people in Africa who catch live animals for zoos.

Daktari was about a veterinarian in Africa - and I always get the two names confused!

[meep.meep]

that makes sense!

[Jaded]

I was watching a UK show online and this one came on. Now I have that BB song it's based on stuck in my head.
 

[bilgistic]

On 4/18/2016 at 10:39 AM, erikdepressant said:

I hate Uncle Ben's commercials.  We normally wouldn't see a world of sock people unless it was in a commercial for a pill that treats a chronic medical condition (like Pipes World for OAB, Inflatable Plastic World for COPD, or Origami World for diabetes).

 

The first one annoys the shit out of me because of the innocent, syrupy singing:

 

 

 

But the second one with the mousy singing is earworm hell:

 

 

 

As soon as it comes on, I know I'll have the damn Ace of Base song stuck in my head for an hour... 45 minutes of that will just be the opening notes over and over again...

 

NEITHER original song has anything to do with parenting OR rice.  "The Sign" is about leaving a bad relationship.  And "Show Me the Way" has some lyrics that parents should not sing to their kids.  Fail.

These Uncle Ben's commercials remind me of Davey and Goliath, an evangelical stop-motion animation show (you read that right) that is apparently still on. It was years ago when I'd see it on the local PBS affiliate and be weirded out by it. It reminds me of those Rankin Bass Christmas specials. They terrify me for no good reason.

[Brattinella]

12 minutes ago, bilgistic said:

These Uncle Ben's commercials remind me of Davey and Goliath, an evangelical stop-motion animation show (you read that right) that is apparently still on. It was years ago when I'd see it on the local PBS affiliate and be weirded out by it. It reminds me of those Rankin Bass Christmas specials. They terrify me for no good reason.

Davey and Goliath!  I remember it well.  Horrible!  "Moral Orel" is more my speed.

[Moose135]

21 hours ago, bilgistic said:

These Uncle Ben's commercials remind me of Davey and Goliath, an evangelical stop-motion animation show (you read that right) that is apparently still on. It was years ago when I'd see it on the local PBS affiliate and be weirded out by it. It reminds me of those Rankin Bass Christmas specials. They terrify me for no good reason.

I remember watching Davey and Goliath a few times when I was a kid.  Not fondly, but I do remember...

[mmecorday]

I would like to thank the powers that be for including the song "Ballroom Blitz" in the marketing for the movie "Suicide Squad." Oh, wait, did I say thank? I mean run over with a tank. I used to like that song! But now that I hear it 50 times a day, not so much.

[Rick Kitchen]

That "we all need a hug in the morning" song from the Huggies diaper ad is apparently an old Irish folk song.

[Crisopera]

Now, if Huggies had used that version I wouldn't be lunging for the remote every time their ad came on...

[beadgirl]

I had to buy some more spray paint today.  During the trip, my nine-year-old and I were singing (not exactly willingly) "Kry-LON -- make it yours!"

[Rick Kitchen]

I just saw a new ad for Comcast where they were singing a version of "Everything is Awesome" just for the ad.  I don't know if I like it or not.

[bilgistic]

It has been quite a few years since I've seen that video. I remember Tawny Kitaen's writhing, but in my previous viewings, I didn't catch David Coverdale's huge open mouth at 2:53, waiting for her kiss. I'm so disturbed.

[mojoween]

Welp now that I've heard "Spoonman" used to hawk T-Mobile I give up.  Obviously the money is huge and the artists don't feel they are sellouts so who am I to judge?  Cash that check, Chris!  I would never turn down free money and neither should you.

Edited August 21, 2016 by mojoween