Friday, April 10, 2009

The Audio Audit: The Dissonance of Nostalgia




More often than not, advertisers will co-opt popular music from other times to some reasonable success.  Lately Chips Ahoy and Swiffer have used the Human League's "Don't You Want Me Baby" to a good effect.




Then there's ads like this:



While I am sure that plenty of Boomers find some enjoyment with this parody, I cannot help but think that there's some people my parents age who are more then well aware that Elvis died on the toilet stuffed to his skull with pills.  Some of those pills might have even been made by the same company that makes Viagra.  Don't get me wrong, when I am their age and 1) I need Viagra and 2) someone actually wants to sleep with me, I'll go running to the doctor's office.

HOWEVER, if I really have a choice about which medication I get, I might want to go with the one that doesn't flash the image of a portly man with massive mutton chop sideburns dead with his pants down in my head.

1 comment:

Mark Brandau said...

I'm pretty sure the New York Times obituary for Elvis had a sentence in there like "He died straining for stool."

Also, while I'm fine with the Human League, the Swiffer ads with Hall and Oates' "Baby Come Back" were way better. You do not take money away from Daryl and John!