Popular Music in Advertising

Overview

The marriage of popular music and advertising has endured decades of transformations in both industries. The process of using music to promote products, films, and television shows is known as synchronization, which is considered a major marketing tool of advertisers. Advertisers have a range of options on choosing a music source to advertise their products. The music may already exist, and it may be considered a classic, as with Nike's use of the Beatles "Revolution"; or it may be preexisting but relatively unknown, as with the Danish band Blue Van's "There Goes My Love" Super Bowl ad; or it may be written specifically to advertise a particular product, as with the commercial jingles of Ingrid Michaelson for Old Navy and Coca-Cola. Popular music used in advertising is chosen to communicate with consumers by associating particular products with memories, pleasurable experiences, or evocations of events from popular culture. While the practice of well-known artists lending their songs, voices, and images to advertisers continues to be controversial, it has become more accepted among artists and the public in response to declining sources of income available to artists since digital music media changed the buying habits of consumers. Advertisers have used pop music, rock music, old standards, country music, rhythm and blues, rap, and hip-hop to sell their wares.

The use of popular music in advertising is seen by most business firms as a way to appear "cool" as they appeal to target audiences, particularly to those who target teenaged and young adult consumers. Thus, commercial ventures have been associated with two perennial themes of popular music: authenticity and anti-authoritarianism (Klein, 2008). In a 1986 study of 256 songs with lyrics that were popular in the United States between 1946 and 1980 according to Variety and Billboard, Monroe Friedman documented the blurring of lines separating the art of popular music and commercialism. He identified 36 songs between 1946 and 1950, 74 songs between 1951 and 1969, 77 songs between 1961 and 1970, and 69 songs between 1971 and 1980 that referred to brand names within their lyrics. Examples ranged from Pat Boone's "Love Letters in the Sand" (1957) to the duet of "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" (1978) by Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond. Brand mentions included the Stetson hat in "Stagger Lee" (1958); the Chevy car in "American Pie" (1971) and "Crocodile Rock" (1972); the Lear airplane in "You're So Vain" (1972); P. F. sneakers in "The Streak" (1974); the Kenworth Microbus in "Convoy" (1975); and the Continental car in "It's Still Rock & Roll to Me" (1980). Friedman notes that commercialism in popular music has continued to increase.

Department stores were the first to use popular music for advertising purposes. Subsequently, the jingle became a staple in advertising. The first use of a jingle is believed to have been "Have You Tried Wheaties?," which was introduced on Christmas Eve in 1926 by the Wheaties Quartet. In the 1920s, the sponsors of radio shows regularly used music in their advertisements. The jingle was expanded in the 1950s and 1960s as television use skyrocketed. Examples include the Dinah Shore recording of "See the USA in Your Chevrolet," Oscar Meyer's "If I Were an Oscar Meyer Weiner," and Alka Seltzer's "Pop Pop Fizz Fizz/ Oh What a Relief It Is."

As advertisers began using popular music in their commercials, a number of lawsuits were filed. Musicologists were hired to maintain databases of existing songs and copyrights. Major controversy erupted when Nike used "Revolution," a Beatles song, in a commercial in 1987. The ownership of early pop songs was often a convoluted and coercive arrangement calculated to relegate songwriters to tiny or non-existent shares in the copyright, and the Beatles, particularly Paul McCartney had long sought to recover ownership of their own songs. However, by 1987, Michael Jackson and EMI Capital Records owned the rights to "Revolution" and were disinclined to give way to McCartney's objections to the application of the Beatles' catalog to advertising purposes. Nike paid $500,000 to use the song for one year. The surviving Beatles' lawsuit was settled out of court, but other lawsuits filed by popular entertainers included Bette Midler's lawsuit against Ford Motor Company and Tom Waits's suit against Frito-Lay. Advertisers decided it was far easier to hire musicians directly and buy rights to songs than to face lawsuits.

In 1954, Elvis Presley, the King of Rock 'n' Roll, was one of the first artists to cross the line between popular music and advertising when he sang a radio jingle for Southern-maid Donuts. The top two cola companies, Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola, were among the earliest companies to recognize the advantage of associating products with popular music. In the mid-twentieth century, Coke hired the advertising company McCann Erickson to sign deals with popular singers such as Connie Francis and the McGuire Sisters. Coke also worked with such artists as Otis Redding, Lulu, the Limeliters, Trogg, the Rolling Stones, and Queen. In 1971, Coke introduced the commercial that became the classic example of popular music merged with successful advertising. Hundreds of artists were invited to join in singing "I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke." With some rewording of the lyrics, the New Seekers and the Hilltop Singers recorded "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing," and the Coke song became part of popular culture, reflecting the pro-love/anti-war message of the 1970s, proclaiming "I'd like to buy the world a home/And furnish it with love/Grow apple trees and honeybees and snow white turtledoves." In 1966, Pepsi used the song "Girl Watchers" to promote Diet Pepsi. As "Music to Watch Girls By," the song became a hit for the Bob Crewe Generation. In the 1980s, Pepsi hired artists that included Michael Jackson, the "King of Pop," and Madonna, the "Queen of Pop," along with Ray Charles, Shakira, Green Day, Brittany Spears, Ludacris, and Ozzy Osbourne. Jackson's five million dollar deal with Pepsi in 1983 was the highest paid contract of its kind up to that point in time. In addition to using artists in their advertising campaigns, both Coke and Pepsi began sponsoring music tours, and Coke became a sponsor of "American Idol." Other companies also saw an advantage in sponsoring music tours, as was the case with Jovan's sponsoring a Rolling Stones tour in 1981.

Even Nobel Prize winner Bob Dylan, who initially criticized the commercialization of popular music, joined in by allowing the Bank of Montreal to use "The Times They Are a-Changin'" (1964) and Victoria's Secret to use "Love Sick" (2004). During the 1980s and 1990s, popular artists also began writing songs solely for use in particular advertisements such as Mary Wood's "Everybody Needs a Little KFC" for Kentucky Fried Kentucky and "It's an Up Thing" for Seven-Up. David Allan (2015) contends that the use of Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It through the Grapevine" to advertise California Raisins in 1986 was a classic moment in the merging of popular music and advertising. Among the success stories in the 2020s are the use Mary J. Blige's song "Real Love" (2020) in Target's Christmas commercials, the use of Lada Gaga's single "Free Woman" (2021) in commericials for Dom Perignon champagne, and Eric Carmen's "Hungy Eyes" (2021) in McDonand's ads.

Applications

Before 1980, advertisers rarely used songs as they were originally written, and the general feeling was that artists were "selling out" if they allowed their music to be used for such purposes. However, the rise of baby boomers to decision-making positions in advertising companies in the 1980s led to a greater acceptance of advertising at an outlet for popular music. In 1981, MTV, with its emphasis on what became known as "visual grammar" that employed quick cuts and moody imagery, was introduced (Taylor, 2012). In 1997, the first mp3 player was introduced. Two years later, the free online music service Napster surfaced, allowing users to illegally share personal music files with others, bypassing both artists and recording companies. In 2001, Apple introduced its first iPod, giving music consumers a legal way to access music. While mp3 players and iPods proved a boon for consumers, they cut into profits for recording companies and income for artists. The introduction of music streaming services such as Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Music, and Apple Music provided even more freedom in music listening, and a number of artists became embroiled in lawsuits with these services.

Shifting attitudes coupled with new technologies led to a revolution in the music industry and convinced many artists to view advertising as an acceptable source of income. Artists who allow their music to be used in commercials may choose to do so to coincide with an album release. Such was the case with Madonna's Pepsi ad, which was seen as a promotion for "Like a Prayer" (1989). Others may use commercials to generate a revival of interest in their music like Ray Charles did with an ad for Diet Pepsi in 1991. In general, rap musicians have never had a problem with having their music used by advertisers, and some consider that use as a form of validation of their popularity.

In 1995, Microsoft used the Rolling Stone's "Start Me Up" to introduce Windows 95. A turning point in the artistic acceptance of the use of popular music came in 1999 when a Volkswagen commercial used "Pink Moon" by Nick Drake, who had died from a drug overdose in 1974 at the age of 26. The music was seen as a perfect fit for the product, and the commercial increased profits for Volkswagen while arousing new interest in Drake's music. Another landmark event occurred in 1999 with Moby's release of Play, an 18-track "electronic-techno" album that combined music styles that included punk rock, hard techno, experimental, and gospel. The album sold 10,000 copies and was licensed for use in advertising, films, and television.

Tech companies often see popular music as being perfectly tailored to their cutting-edge products. Apple's Steve Jobs was one of the first to understand that advantage for both business and musicians. Apple has used a variety of artists in its ads, ranging from the Irish rock band U2 to the rap singer Eminem. The advantage to musicians is illustrated by the March 7, 2010, Academy Awards broadcast, which was watched by 39.3 million in the United States alone. Apple introduced its upcoming release of the iPad with "There Goes My Love" by Blue Van, a Danish band, leading to a surge of interest in Blue Van. Some 70 percent of the band's income has since been generated from advertising deals. A new artist may earn around $10,000 for a 30-second ad, but popular artists may command as much as a million dollars if they sign on for a major advertising campaign. A typical contract awards musicians $50,000 to $200,000 for allowing their music to be used in television and radio ads for one year.

Studies on the use of popular music in advertising have demonstrated that it increases sales and arouses the emotional responses of consumers. For example, after HP introduced its 360 tablet with Meghan Trainor's "Lips Are Movin'" in 2014, the company saw a 26 percent increase in sales. Trainor was chosen because of her appeal to teenagers who were the target audience for the tablet. Ford's use of Rachel Platten's "Fight Song" in its EDGE SUV campaign in 2015 led to a 30 percent increase in sales. In a 2015 study of more than five hundred television ads using popular music, researchers found that ads featuring popular music were ranked higher in creativity, empathy, emotive power, and information power than ads that did not feature popular music (Birkner, 2015). A 2021 study conducted at Texas A&M University showed that including music in the background of a commercial for a sports product made for a more effective advertisement. Some study participants were shown a commerical with music in the background while others were shown one without music. Those who saw the version with music had a higher emotional arousal and were more likely to want to purchase the product.

Issues

Beginning in the 1960s, many artists promoted the theme of popular music as art and decried the commercialism of the contemporary music scene. In the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, however, musicians saw a sharp decline in their incomes. Radio began restricting air time to the most popular artists of the day, and the rise of music digitization resulted in a significant drop in album sales. Bethany Klein (2009) conducted a survey of musicians, music critics, deejays, recording company executives, and music collectors to identify contemporary attitudes on the use of popular music in advertising. Klein's findings demonstrate that considerations to be considered in determining legitimacy include whether or not the songwriter has given permission for song use. Those interviewed felt it was better when the artist was alive to give permission because estates were more likely to sell the rights for a minimal amount. The popularity of the artist was another major consideration. It was deemed more acceptable for new artists building careers to sell music to advertisers than for established artists to do so. Additionally, they saw it as a sell-out when artists who had taken a position against the practice caved in to commercialism. Features of an ad, such as creativity, artistry, and nonconformity were also at issue, and advertisers who acknowledged those requirements were more respected than those who did not. Survey respondents also felt that popular musicians should not align themselves with companies that sold unhealthy products or with companies known for bad business practices. They were supportive of musicians working with companies, like Apple and Volkswagen, with positive images. A final consideration among those interviewed was that advertisers respect the meaning/spirit of the song in its original form. They believed that consideration was most likely to be upheld when artists also served as creative directors, as with Justin Timberlake and Bud Light, Taylor Swift and Diet Coke, and Lady Gaga and Polaroid.

It is important for advertisers to choose popular music that fits with their products and images. Volkswagen's use of Nick Drake's "Pine Moon" is seen as a defining moment in the history of popular music in advertising. Another "good fit" was Sting's "Desert Rose" in a 1999 ad for Jaguar. Most observers agree that the choice of the Turtles "Happy Together" was a misfire for an Applebee's commercial that used the 1960s love song to advertise their menu with only slight word changes. The Turtles filed suit, asking for $75,000 for copyright infringement. A perplexing choice that drew condemnation was Carnival Cruise's 2002 use of Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life," a 1977 song about drug addiction. Likewise, a commercial for Wrangler jeans that used Credence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son," which conveys the antithesis of Wrangler's flag-waving message, was seen as a catastrophic mistake. The use of the Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar" in a commercial for Pepsi was described by many as being creepy and annoying. In the 2019 commercial, the song was song by a mosquito with lips like Mick Jagger's.

Some artists see selling their music for advertising as a positive experience because of increased income and exposure. Others find it a negative experience. Some who have done it once vow never to do so again. James Mercer of the Shins is in the latter group, asserting that allowing McDonalds to use "New Slang" was a one-time experience. Some artists have consistently refused to allow their music to be used in advertising. Those artists include Bruce Springsteen, REM, Paul Simon, and the Doors. There are also musicians who have found fame recording music for advertising. One such example is Ingrid Michaelson who is known for "The Way I Am" for Old Navy, her instrumental of "Sort Of" for the Google Channel, "Be OK" for Mott's Apple Juice, Ritz Crackers, and a Stand-up to Cancer campaign.

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