Isn't It Ironic?: Difference between revisions

* The "Zoom Zoom" jingle that appears in commercials for Mazda is actually an old Capoeira song which goes "Zum Zum Zum, capoeira mata um" which roughly means "Zoom Zoom Zoom, Capoeira (can) kill you, or (Capoeira kills someone)". Mazda carefully excises all this nonsense about Capoeira, natch - all they care about is the zooming.

* David Bowie has suffered from this '''a lot''' -- ever since his work first got mass media attention. In 2008, all the trailers for ''Milk'' (a movie about an openly gay politician) used his song "Queen Bitch", which raises unfortunate questions about how the marketing team felt about the film's subject. Then there was the jeans commercial that put videos of masculine men to the song "The Jean Genie". The only appropriate response is "You're all aware the song is about gay sex, right?"

** Another in the same series of commercials uses the cover of "Major Tom (Coming Home)" by Shiny Toy Guns (originally recorded by Peter Schilling), and it cuts off right after "Earth below us / Drifting, falling..." While it's a very cool commercial, you just have to say, "Uh, you know that song ''doesn't end well'', right? {{spoiler|''"Across the stratosphere / a final message / 'give my wife my love' / then nothing more..."'' it's only even more of a [[Tear Jerker]] after that, and that 'drifting, falling' part becomes an [[Ironic Echo]] - the same words meant something totally different on the way ''up'', didn't they?}}

* "Happy Happy Joy Joy" from ''[[Ren and Stimpy]]'', a parody of [[Sickeningly Sweet|saccharine]] kids' cartoon songs, being used sincerely to sell Sara Lee products.

* A few years back, there was an advert for Pizza Hut's "Twisted Crust" which used [[They Might Be Giants]]' jolly, upbeat "Twisting". It was pulled really quickly. When you listen properly, the lyric actually goes "She wants to see you again / Twisting, slowly twisting / In the wind..." Possibly hanging from a skyhook, even.

* "Bohemian Like You" by the Dandy Warhols has been used more than once in car adverts by virtue of the first line, which goes "you've got a great car". The ''second'' line, [[The Alleged Car|"what's wrong with it today?"]], is rarely played.

* Mack the Knife, a song from a incredibly anti-capitalist musical, detailing a businessman who murders people to further his own gains, was once used in a marketing campaign for McDonald's.

** The lyrics were completely rewritten, at least. More on the Mac Tonight campaign can be found at [[The Other Wiki]] [[wikipedia:Mac Tonight|here]].

** "Move Along" also turned up in one of [[LEGO]]'s ''[[Bionicle]]'' ads, when Lego had a deal with the band. At least ''there'' it was SLIGHTLY less out of place...but only just: on the one hand, the heroes of the story are trying to prevent a death. On the other, the song's still being used with kid's toys.

** Speaking of suicide in car commercials, one for Hyundai prominently features "Today" by [[The Smashing Pumpkins]], which incidentally features irony in a prominent manner: the song talks about the greatest day of the narrator's life... because he's going to kill himself tomorrow. Presumably using his Hyundai in a closed garage.

** How about the same band's "Tonight Tonight Tonight", a song about a paranoid junkie making a drug deal late at night, being used for a famous Michelob beer commercial?! (Did Michelob sponsor their ''Invisible Touch'' tour?!)

** After "Jesus He Knows Me" was released, the Christian TV station, the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), figured the band had discovered religion and picked up the song's video to air, but they decided not to after learning what the song is really about. It's about a televangelist who [[Sinister Minister|lives a decadent, corrupt lifestyle]] off the donations from his viewers.

* Kohl's department stores have recently adopted Barenaked Ladies' "Shopping" as an ad jingle, either not knowing or not caring about the song's satiric anti-consumerist thrust.

 

* A number of tobyMac songs (mostly "The Slam") have been used in previews for violent movies and shows, despite said songs being about God.

** Although, "The Slam" was written by tobyMac after he saw ''[[The Passion of the Christ]]'', which is pretty violent.

* ''[[Call of Duty: Black Ops|Call of Duty Black Ops]]'' ran adverts featuring The Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter". Apparently a song depicting the horrors of war, which will eventually end all life on the planet, is supposed to encourage people to play as Black Op soldiers.

** Though, Call of Duty has had a history of being anti-war, yet [[Do Not Do This Cool Thing|simultaneously being pro-war, due to being a fun video game about the subject.]] So, while still contradictory, the advertisers were probably well aware of the song' meaning

* There's an advert for some car or other which is set to "This Is The Life" by Amy MacDonald. It would be bad enough if they'd used one of the verses (which describe apparent good times) and conveniently ignored the chorus (which is a "reveal" of the misery that the person the song is addressed to is trying to run away from) but no... they've gone straight for the most miserable part of the song, purely for the [[Title Drop]]. The music behind it isn't even particularly peppy.

* Finnish hardware store Rautia uses song "Vasara ja nauloja" (Hammer and nails) in it's commercials to promote how successfull you are with their tools. What's the song about? A man failing to build a house...

* In yet another case of a politician completely missing the subtext of a song, presidential candidate John McCain made an appearance at a primarily Latino high school alongside reggaeton rapper Daddy Yankee, and made reference to the latter's song "Gasolina". Suffice it to say, said song uses putting gasoline in a car as a metaphor for...[[Intercourse with You|well, think about it for a second]].

** I heard once that "Gasolina" is also Puerto Rican slang for general illegal/underground activity. Which makes it even funnier.

* Special mention should go to [[Bruce Springsteen]]: in 1984 his "Born In The U.S.A.," a song about a disaffected Vietnam veteran, nearly got picked up by [[Ronald Reagan]]'s campaign until Springsteen turned him down.

** Of course, that's after John (Cougar) Melloncamp refused to allow Reagan to use his song "Pink Houses" which has a "patriotic" chorus, but similar disillusionment in its verses.