Tag: commercials

Boomers Say, “Look What They’ve Done to My Song, Ma”

TV commercial makers know a good song when they hear one. It has come to Mister Boomer’s attention that there is a virtual plethora of TV commercials that use songs from the boomer era currently in viewing circulation. One that recently crossed Mister B’s path is the song Brand New Key. Sung by Melanie in 1972, it was utilized to back a Hewlett Packard commercial.

Melanie was one of those artists who had been around forever, playing with some of the greats of the time. In fact, she happened to be on the bill at Woodstock, yet comparably few people knew much about her until her first U.S. hit, Candles in the Rain, in 1971. A year later, Brand New Key was released. Some radio stations refused to play it because they perceived the lyrics to be a double entendre for sexual innuendo. It became a hit anyway, possibly — who knows? — because of it. (For Mister B, the song was pretty high on his dislike list, preferring her ironic Look What They’ve Done to My Song, Ma. Besides, he is still trying to figure out the lyrics to Louie Louie.)

Time was popular music was not expected to be “used” by commercial agents. Many gave a mighty boomer “right on” to artists like Bruce Springsteen for refusing to have his songs used in commercials. The whole ’60s anti-establishment thing seemed the direct opposite of this type of commercialization. The words that often came to mind by boomers when referring to artists who allowed their songs to be licensed were, “sell out” and “sacrilegious.”

Now that decades have passed, it’s no longer a handful of songs that are being pressed into the service of commerce. Songs by Bobby Darin, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop (did Carnaval actually listen to the lyrics to that song?), The Shirelles, The Yardbirds, Johnny Nash, The Kinks, Herman’s Hermits, The Ronettes, The Turtles, The Fifth Dimension, The Isley Brothers, The Partridge Family, The Association, The Spencer Davis Group (that one really hurt Mister B!), Barry White, Led Zeppelin, Donovan, Al Green and The Beatles, to name a few, have made their way onto our TV screens to sell everything from cars to cruises, mops to allergy medicines, yogurt to prescription medication, and everything in between.

In case you haven’t played your scratchy Spencer Davis Group 45 in a while, here’s a version in a rare, priceless video:

In some marketing-universe way, it probably makes sense. After all, the boomer generation represents the largest demographic the marketing world has ever seen. Still, many of these commercials aren’t aimed at boomers. They are aiming at the two generations after the boomers — today’s homemakers and parents.

In days of yore, people would play the Victrola in their homes, when they could afford the contraptions, at designated times and special occasions. The generation of the parents of boomers most often heard new songs on the radio and in played live in clubs. Boomers kept the radio tradition, but with the advent of rock ‘n roll, bought records to play at home in astonishing numbers. Once boomers started families of their own, their music went along with them. Many a child now in their thirties or forties grew up listening to the great music that boomers put forth, and thus will recognize the tunes on TV.

Mister Boomer has a friend whose son discovered Jethro Tull and King Crimson in his teenage years. Another swears her daughter’s favorite bands are The Beatles and The Mamas and the Papas. Many a child or grandchild of boomers stream sixties music, not because they have to, but rather because they like them.

So what are we to make of boomer music used in TV commercials? In an era when a new song used in a commercial can often mark it as an upcoming hit, the use of oldies — BOOMER oldies — obviously isn’t going away any time soon. Maybe we should look on the bright side. With the songs only a quick online click away, the music of the boomer era is alive and kicking, and some of those musicians even get to benefit from the uptick in interest.

Mister B will try and lighten up, too. He is now reminded that he has to go online to hear a few songs that didn’t make it to his vinyl record collection.

What do you think of boomer songs used in TV commercials?

Please note: This is an edited version of a post first published by Mister Boomer on October 31, 2010.

Boomers Watched Kids and Animals on TV

If you are a boomer, you probably watch your fair share of network TV. In that non-streaming venue, there are nearly as many commercials as there is time for program content. So Mister Boomer, as a student of our culture, takes note when he discovers a pattern among the commercial ad offerings. For example, a couple of years ago, there were several Little Red Riding Hood references in commercials.

Lately, Mister B noticed there were three commercials running concurrently that use the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Though it is a children’s story, two out of the three commercials portray Goldilocks as an adult or teen, still looking for the “just right” in her life. In one of these ads, Goldilocks, while living with the three bears, searches for the perfect home online at Redfin. In another, a teenage Goldilocks breaks into the home of the three bears as per the story, but chooses between three cold-brewed Dunkin’s coffees on the counter instead of porridge. It’s only in the third one where a young Goldilocks, apparently living in the home of the three bears, is eating a sandwich made with Nature’s Own bread. Mama Bear turns to Papa Bear and says, “If you keep feeding her like this, she’ll never leave.”

It has been said in multiple circles that our culture turns to animals and kids in times of change and stress; it’s evidently an instinctual need for some warm fuzzies. While the economy boomed after the War, social change was imminent, disrupting what came before. Perhaps that is one reason there was a preponderance of kids and animals in TV shows, movies and TV commercials throughout the boomer years.

TV broadcasting was expanding and included a great deal of children’s programming as well as family fare. Animals and children were featured in many.

Between 1950 and ’56, there were seven successful movies that featured Francis, the Talking Mule. An Army mule, Francis mainly spoke to the soldier he befriended (but rarely to others). After the war, Francis went to live with his soldier friend in civilian life.

Mister Ed, the talking horse follow-up to Francis, had its TV moment from 1961-66.

Children and animals were teamed in several shows. In Rin Tin Tin (1954-59), an orphaned boy named Rusty, taken in by soldiers at the Fort Apache outpost in Arizona, is accompanied by a German Shepherd. Though the dog does not talk, he is loyal and wise enough to assist whenever there was trouble.

Even more than Rin Tin Tin, Lassie (1954-74), the title dog character that also only barked on occasion, appeared to more than understand and help the humans around him. This time the boy, Timmy (also orphaned), seemed to always get into some trouble and needed Lassie’s help.

Of course, cartoons in movies and on TV were filled with talking animals right from the start. When TV came around, cartoon characters became the spoke-characters for numerous products, most notably sugar-coated cereal.

National TV commercials were filled with kids or animals, or both. For many boomers, one of the most memorable was for Red Rose Tea. A group of trained chimpanzees performed as the Marquis Chimps in England and on U.S. variety TV shows, like The Ed Sullivan Show. In 1960, the animals were given instruments to appear like they were playing in a band and singing the jingle for Red Rose Tea. The commercial and jingle were so popular that in 1968 the jingle was licensed by two Pittsburgh DJs and released as a 45 rpm record.

As for lovable kids, there may not be a more memorable TV commercial boy than Mikey. Little Mikey made his debut on Life cereal commercials in 1972. The premise was the kids did not want to try the health-focused cereal. They get the notion that Mikey can try it for them, because Mikey did not like anything. Of course, Mikey liked it.

The boomer years were filled with animal characters and kids doing amazing as well as mundane things. Maybe it was a way to grab a wider audience or product market share by showing kids themselves on TV. Maybe it was piggybacking on the post-war years of talking animals that originally were aimed at adults before children. And maybe, in some small way, it was a societal balm intended to heal wounds and connect commonalties among our differences.

Do you have a favorite animal or kid commercial, boomers?

Additional reading: Talking Animals Sold Cereal to Boomers