Why are corporations so unimaginative when it comes to TV commercials? Why do they rip off classic songs?

Question

How come these yuppies can't create their own jingles anymore? More than half of the commercials on TV are either exactly ripping off a classic (or even current) rock song or are using the music of some classic rock song and adding their own cheesy lyrics (what in the h**l does Viagra have to do with the song Viva Las Vegas)? h**l, I am a guitarist and I write my own songs. Why can't corporations do the same instead of ruining a song that had nothing to do with their product?

Answer 1

I think the reason they do it is because when they use classic songs, it gets people's attention better, especially if a tv viewer hears one they really like. If a favorite song becomes associated with a product, you'll remember the product

Answer 2

Most of the people working in corporate marketing departments are clueless morons. They have NO IDEA how to market their products or services to the public, so they go for the quick-and-easy options that they think will make the potential customer "identify" with them. Often this involves using a song. Another easy-out is to hire a celebrity.

Part of the problem too, is that the creative people who work in advertising agencies are in the 20s - and they are trying to talk to people in their 40s, 50s and 60s. Huge disconnect. Again, the easy way out of their ignorance is, "Let's use a song from the '60s!"

Most people I know in their target demographic did NOT stop developing at age 17. They continued to listen to contemporary music, watch television and go to movies after their high-school years. They don't identify themselves with Cream or Jimi Hendrix or Easy Rider, but the clueless marketers and agency folks don't understand this at all.

I think the worst example currently on TV is the commercial for the cell phone service called Jitterbug. Talk about clueless! Obviously this service is targeted at adults in their 50s and 60s - at least that's how old the people using the phones appear to be. They talk about how clear and loud the sound is, how big the display is and how you can be a total techno-phobe and still use these phones. Pretty insulting.

But the song they use is a variation on the big-band jitterbug dance tunes that were popular in the 1940s and 1950s. This was popular with people born in the 1920s and '30s. Thus the people using the phone should be more like 80! I can't believe how wrong they got this. I guarantee you, people currently in their 50s and 60s did NOT listen to jitterbug music! But some pimple-faced copywriter at their phone service's agency probably had no clue and just added together "phone for old people" + "old music" = "big bands"

OK, getting off topic a big here.

Using popular music has been an effective advertising tool for many, many years, but I agree with you that it is currently being abused and used very ignorantly. Good, original jingles and commercial music should be used more often than they are. Popular music fades pretty quickly. Some companies are still using pop songs that are three or four years old and no one, literally NO ONE still listens to that song on the radio or their iPod. It's run its course. But they can't afford to make a change because they probably spent 10-years of budget to license it while it was "hot" and in the top 10.

Morons.