As Americans we experience numerous advertisements on a daily basis. Various aspects of our senses are triggered through these advertisements: our mouths water at the sight of melting chocolate, our noses tingle at the thought of fresh flowers, our hands desire the touch of a towel as soft as a puppy, and of course our feet bounce and our heads nod with the sound of media melodies. Even long after a commercial is over, our ears still ring with that catchy tune we cannot seem to shake. Our sense of hearing, being so closely linked to memory, plays a vital role in the advertising business. Yet, what we may not realize is that music is no longer solely featured as jingles in ads. Today the music in advertisements is not only popular, but often gains popularity because of its being featured in a 30 second television spot. This blog is an exploration into the soundscape of commercials, an adventure through the music of the media. With three different playlists exemplifying sounds from various times and various places, the pages will reveal exactly what this music accomplishes in terms of advertising.
The first playlist is a collection of songs that can be found in advertisements playing today. While some of the songs were popular before their commercial debut, others were thrown onto the music scene because of the product they are promoting. Some of the songs are used to advertise vastly different things, some songs do not seem to fit quite right with their products, others match perfectly. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this playlist was that some songs were not even legitimate songs, merely created to be the background of the advertisement, but grew such a following the artists released the songs independently.
The second playlist contains bits of the same soundscape, only from many years prior. This playlist takes a trip back to when television advertising was not quite the science it appears to be today. During the 1960s, commercial music mostly meant catchy jingles, rhyming verses, bouncy melodies. The purpose was for viewers to learn more about the product and remember that information through music. Even though music may not have held the same purpose then as it does now in advertising, even in this decade we are able to see a transformation from commercial music being merely jingles to something more.
The final playlist contains songs from contemporary commercials but with different settings and compares the connotation of the music featured. Placing commercials with urban settings against commercials with rural settings, this playlist examines the musical differences between the country and the city.
Ultimately, commercial music becomes, not only a way to remember a product, but a way to experience that product and even the music itself.
