Great Songs from TV Ads

It used to be that serious musicians would try to avoid doing television commercials, but that's changed in the last 15 years.  Advertisers found that using obscure songs in their commercials was cheaper and aided them in their attempts at niche marketing.  At the same time, musicians who couldn't otherwise get radio play found TV ads to be a great way to get wide exposure.  I remember discovering one of my very favorite bands (The Walkmen) in this TV ad from the early 2000's:

Since then, radio stations have continued to get stingier with their playlists, and though YouTube, Spotify and Pandora have expanded indie musicians' opportunities to get exposure, television ads are one of the few avenues that promises both exposure and a substantial payout for an emerging artist.

So I'd like to highlight some of the good music I've heard recently on TV ads.  I think commercials can be an art form of their own, but they're often quite irritating, and a good song can ease the pain a little.  So on to our first ad...

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I think this first ad is devastatingly effective-- it manages to tell you all about their product in a stylishly fun and visual way.  James Franco brings a lot of star power, but the song by The Bahamas really brings it home.

It's a great, slow-burn soul number with electronic flourishes, not to mention a Beatlesque guitar solo-- this one's a great find.  Check out the full length tune:

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Now, my roommate is avid watcher of Project Runway, which is a fashion designer reality show.  As a bonding exercise, I'll often watch the show with her, even though it's not really my thing.  One thing about the show is that they play the same 3 goddamn commercials at every break.  Generally, I find this obnoxious, but there's one ad they frequently played last season that I got a kick out of-- specifically because I thought the song was pretty cool.  Here's the ad:

I don't think this is as great an ad as the one above with James Franco, just because I didn't realize this ad was for shoes (I think it's for shoes) until just now.  I really like the electronic sounds, which is weird because I'm not a huge fan of electronic music (I don't dislike it, I'm just picky).  The song is "Money Rain Down" by a band called Big Black Delta, and its official music video is actually pretty cool:

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Unlike the others on this list, this jingle from a Perfect Bacon Bowl commercial isn't a standalone song-- it's only focus is on selling this artery-clogging monstrosity.  What's special about it is that the band performing the jingle do about as good of an impression of Queen as I can imagine.  Did Freddie Mercury rise from his grave to consummate his love of bacon?  I like to think he did.  Here's the ad:

Here's a fan-made video that plays the song over footage of the band Queen, just to make clear why we love the song...

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So what are some songs you've discovered through television advertising?  Tell us in a comment below.

Fiber Sex

Fiber One has, of late, had a series of commercials showcasing popular 80s tunes.  Most of them rewrite the lyrics to very clearly and directly promote their brand of snacks as healthy (yet supposedly tasty) alternatives to junk food.  I've recently seen this new ad that breaks the mold a bit:

In the commercial, the women are staring lustily at a stockboy and what he's pushing just below the screen-- perhaps it's the stockboy's gigantic penis, which even requires a rolling cart to be carried.  A classic attempt to use sex to sell a product, right?  But it gets disturbing the more you think about it.

What does something high in fiber do?  Why is it a healthy snack?   Because it makes you poop a lot.  It's food that doesn't stick to your bowels.  It cleanses your digestive system.  These women are aroused by a stock boy who's offering them the magic of pooping.

Now, I'm not naive-- I'm aware that many people enjoy scatological fetishes.  They may very well be Fiber One fans.  If so, this ad may constitute an attempt by Fiber One to reach out to their base.  I mean, it makes a lot of sense-- there's a synergy here.  But if Fiber One wants to appeal to anyone beyond Coprophiliacs, they may want to reconsider this ad.

I suppose a more generous interpretation of this ad's message might be that women, when given the option to eat sinfully while also keeping off the pounds, will feel sexier; and when women feel sexier, they are more apt to want sex with stockboys a decade their junior.  That may be the case; and there's nothing wrong with it if there is.  But I think it's about poop sex, as I think most people will once they carry it through to its logical conclusion.

So, bravo, Fiber One, for entertaining horny, flatulent, pre-teen boys all around the world.