Submitted by John Stauber on
"The Clash's 'London Calling, with its lyrical images of
nuclear winter, looming ice age and engine failure, might
seem a particularly annoying musical choice for selling an
elite brand of cars. But for Jaguar, the 1979 song was the
perfect accompaniment to the television commercials for its
new X-Type car. Jaguar is not the only company blithely using songs whose lyrics come off as downright contrary to the images of the brands they advertise. ... 'On its face, it's preposterous...' said Mark Crispin Miller, professor of media studies at New York University. ... But it probably works, Mr. Miller said, adding, 'Their hope is that as people drive their Jaguars, they'll feel like outlaws.' ... The success of advertisers with these ads suggests that making radical songs saccharine is actually easy. 'Meaning is extremely malleable,' said Gary Burns, professor of communication... 'If it's a good riff, people are going to listen to it,' even in a commercial, said Jason Fine, senior editor at Rolling Stone magazine. 'It doesn't particularly bother me or steal the song's meaning from me. I know a lot of people do feel that way, but that's become an outdated way of thinking.' "
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