Can a TV ad spoil a song?
Cory Bergman December 26th, 2006
For example, that John Mellencamp song “Our Country” that has played, like, 16 billion times in Chevy ads. The album isn’t due out until January, nearly six months after the ads starting airing, and Mellencamp’s record label is worried it’s suffering from overexposure. You think? Plus, there’s the little issue of picturing a Chevy Silverado every time you hear the song, which is reason enough to never listen to it again. (WSJ sub. req.)
12 Comments Add your own
1. discreet_chaos | December 27th, 2006 at 2:43 am
Like a Rock
2. Hussman | December 27th, 2006 at 6:15 am
Chevy overbought with this mediocre campaign. It has now gotten to the point that even if I were to consider buying a GM vehicle, I would not buy Chevy based on the irritation from this ad alone.
3. Alyssa | December 27th, 2006 at 8:39 am
Yes. And so can a CSI franchise.
4. Ken Leebow | December 27th, 2006 at 8:49 am
A while back, John said he wasn’t going to “sell-out” to commercials. Well, we all know: Everyone has their price.
5. thedetroitchannel | December 27th, 2006 at 8:53 am
ain’t that america?
6. Safran | December 27th, 2006 at 9:13 am
I like how “Lust for Life” is always used as a “Aren’t we having fun” action commercial song. Somehow they always leave out the rest of the lyrics…
Here comes johnny yen again
With the liquor and drugs
And the flesh machine
Hes gonna do another strip tease.
Hey man, where’d ya get that lotion?
7. Dave | December 27th, 2006 at 10:05 am
“How To Save a Life” and “Cable Car” by The Fray wasn’t killed after being used in tons of TV shows and a few commercials. The band actually got huge because of the exposure. However, I would say their case is rare.
Generally, it pretty much destroys any artist with “street cred”. No one gives a rats about a Kelly Clarkson or Justin Timberlake song being used in a commercial. That’s expected.
It’s when a trendy, indie CMJ-type artist is used, they can be shunned by their fans and labelled sell-outs. I think it sucks too because commercials are a great way to get national exposure.
8. Alyssa | December 27th, 2006 at 12:42 pm
What about that song that Sting launched via Jaguar commercial?
9. Chris | December 27th, 2006 at 2:44 pm
That spot is just so cheesy and over-the-top, like if you asked an 8th grade class to come up with the most patriotic commercial they could imagine. I feel like I need to watch some Al-Jazeera after I see it just to feel clean.
Anyone who thinks this song is NOT overplayed is clearly not an NFL fan. This ad (and its variations) is on during just about EVERY SINGLE commercial break of every NFL game. Sometimes twice a break, and I’m not kidding.
In this DVR age, NFL games are about the only live TV that I see. Thus, those are about the only commercial breaks that I ever see.
10. thetampachannel | December 27th, 2006 at 2:55 pm
chris, rolled over your name and saw you’re a fox affiliate…someone there needs to go through the list of domains they smartly registered and point them to your “web channels” better. myfoxnewyork didn’t resolve the last time i checked and your own, myfoxtampa, still gives up an error message.
a visitor is a terrible thing to waste.
fwiw.
11. Steve Safran | December 27th, 2006 at 3:16 pm
Classic old advertising thinking: pound a message into as many brains as possible as many times as possible. (And use a message that could apply to just about any competitor, too.)
New thinking: Target the right person the first time with a relevant message they actually want about a product they are in the market for or would be interested in.
12. Sam | January 18th, 2008 at 7:43 am
Wow, thanks for the excellent information!
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