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What I like about—insurance?

January 8, 2008 2 Comments

I really have no issue with songs appearing in TV commercials. Twenty years have passed since Nike’s use of the Beatles’ “Revolution” to sell sneakers caused a legal and cultural uproar, and the landscape has changed drastically. Music chains have closed locations from coast to coast or no longer operate at all. (I still miss Tower Records, which became a decade-long Tuesday night tradition for me in Chicago.) Big box stores like Best Buy and Circuit City carry only a limited selection of CDs. And too many terrestrial radio stations continue to stick with tight playlists.

Both established artists and newer kids on the block need constant exposure; before music can (hopefully) be purchased, it must first be heard. That’s why licensing tracks to help sell seemingly unrelated products or services is an avenue best explored and embraced. In just 30 seconds, you can reach millions of ears tuned to 50-inch plasmas (and pocket some decent dough in the process).

But as I was flipping through basic cable the other night, I stumbled across this. And this, I just don’t get.

At all.

  • minnis

    these commercials annoy me to death. they have absolutely nothing to do with insurance and it’s crappy animation on top of it (the animation was really, really bad when this campaign started a couple of years ago). my little brother has e-surance and i make fun of him all the time (mainly because of these ads).

  • Chrisitne

    How about the fact that Hampton Inn is now using exactly the same ditty to sell their hotels? When you heard the song start up — you knew that it was “selling” e-surance…now??? Still doesn’t make any sense.

    One of the worse commercials of late has to be Target’s use of the Beatles “Hello Goodbye”–or in their version–”Hello–Good Buy”…listen to the lyrics–doesn’t make any sense…but it is catchy and gets stuck in your brain!