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{{trope}}
{{quote|'''Charlie''': Everyone's using old rock songs now. They're not gonna hire a guy like me to write a jingle for tampons when they can just play "Stuck in the Middle With You".|''[[Two and A Half Men]]''}}
|''[[Two and a Half Men]]''}}
 
So there's this song from your youth. Whenever you listen to it, it brings back a whole lot of good memories, and you end up going through the rest of your day with a smile.
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Apparently this practice "works" often enough in the sense of selling enough of the product to make the practice economically sustainable, no matter how artistically objectionable. Spam email has to work on ''somebody'' too, right?
 
[[Repurposed Pop Song|'''Repurposed Pop Songs]]''' come in several varieties:
 
* Played straight. Usually the most expensive option. The agency bought the rights to the specific recording that everyone knows. It's used almost untouched except possibly for a bit of editing to make it fit the length of the commercial, or to get right away to the "good bits" (i.e., the part that has relevance to the commercial's pitch).
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A song can also be ''instantly'' repurposed if an advertiser buys the rights before it's even released. In such cases the commercial use hits the airwaves at the same time as the original song, or sometimes ''before'', and effectively turns it into a [[Celebrity Endorsement]].
 
Repurposing a pop song can have a [[Broken Aesop]] effect if the message of the song is subtler than you'd get by listening to the loudest parts of the lyrics. For example, there is a movement to make [[Bruce Springsteen]]'s "Born to Run" the official state song of New Jersey, despite the fact that it's about ''how terrible it is to live in New Jersey'' and how much the songwriter ''[[Wanderlust Song|wanted to leave]]''. (See [[Isn't It Ironic?]].) Seth Stevenson has written [http://www.slate.com/id/2119668/ two] [http://www.slate.com/id/2120229/ articles] for [http://www.slate.com/ Slate] about this.
 
Contrast with [[Top Ten Jingle]]. Compare [[The Cover Changes the Meaning]], [[Rewritten Pop Version]], [[Isn't It Ironic?]].
 
{{examples|Examples:}}
* Ray Parker Jr.'s Ghostbusters song was used and changed for 118 118. The line ''Who ya gonna call?'' commonly known to end ''Ghostbusters!'' was edited to finish ''"118". Also in the full length version of the original advert, a verse, the chorus and the bridge were all edited, fitting in with that it was advertising a directory.
** The song was also used with rewritten lyrics by Courtesy Dealers, changing the lyrics to "If you need a car/or a truck or van/Who ya gonna call?/Go Courtesy!"
* Kanes Furniture used "Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet". They turned it into "Ain't seen nothin yet, KANES KANES!!!"
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* Sheryl Crow's "Every Day Is A Winding Road" for the Subaru Impreza and Nissan Silvia.
* Blondie's "One Way Or Another" has been used so many times, for the same illustrative purpose, that now it's impossible to hear the song without thinking about somebody trying to open a stubborn bottle lid or crawling around the floor looking for a missing contact lens.
* [[Microsoft]] may as well hold the record for [[Comically Missing the Point]]:
** [[The Rolling Stones]]' "Start Me Up" for [[Microsoft Windows]] 95. Note the [[Broken Aesop]] variant here; the next line to the song, not appearing in the commercial itself, is "You make a grown man cry." Another line not used is "I can't compete", which [[Isn't It Ironic?|some snarkier types have found quite amusing]] in light of Microsoft's apparent monopolistic ambitions, coupled with notorious quality control problems (especially in the area of security).
*** They actually tried to buy R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World as We Know It", which would have probably been even worse; however the band turned them down.
*** On the same boat, MS tried to use "21st Century Digital Boy" by [[Bad Religion]], which is about overreliance on technology and the negative effect it has.
** The portion of Mozart's "Requiem" that talks about the souls of the damned.
** Also, aA viral ad for Microsoft's Origami platform contained Regina Spektor's "Us", omitting the line "We're living in a den of thieves".
*** The song appears to be about living in a crumbling, decadent, totalitarian empire. Take your pick whether it's the Soviet Union or Microsoft.
** One ad for Microsoft Office XP used Red Rider's "Lunatic Fringe". Needless to say, the commercial ends before the lyrics start up...
* Adverts for Philips electronics have used [[The Beatles]]' "Getting Better" with another [[Broken Aesop]] (the next line is "can't get much worse").
** Microsoft has also used this one.
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** In the 1980s, they used "Mack the Knife" with product-specific lyrics as "Mac Tonite" to promote longer operating hours. To drive the point home, the commercials featured a character also called "Mac Tonite", a lounge singer with a moon for a head.
* In 1984, Elton John released the single "Sad Songs (Say So Much)" and simultaneously licensed it in a product-specific form to hawk Sasson Jeans by way of the [[Mondegreen]] "Sasson (Says So Much)". Worse yet, the video for the song and the commercial were all but identical except for length and that one line.
* In 1989, Pepsi-Cola paid $5 million to use Madonna's single "Like A Prayer" in a commercial, but the soft drink company chickened out after protests by religious groups in the wake of the song's video release...A video that, for anyone that doesn't know, includes burning crosses, stigmata, and Madonna having sex with what they assumed to be "Black Jesus".<ref> It was actually a black saint, known as St. Martin de Porres</ref>. Mmm, Pepsi.
** Pepsi was big about rock/pop star endorsements in [[The Eighties]]; other songs they used via their original performers and rewritten lyrics included [[David Bowie|"Modern Love"]], [[Michael Jackson|"Billie Jean", and "Bad"]]. Another was set to the tune of Glenn Frey's "[[Miami Vice|You Belong to the City]]".
*** Then in the nineties, Van Halen's "Right Now" was used in ads for Crystal Pepsi.
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* Glad advertised its plastic wrap for a couple of years using Billy Strayhorn's "It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" rewritten to "It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Cling)".
* More recently (2007), Grolsch beer has licensed "It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" for use in its ads for a lager sold in ''beugel'' bottles that have a swing-top cap.
* A non-commercial version of the [[Broken Aesop]] effect can be found in the "Kidz Bop" CDs. These take songs that are popular on the radio and re-record them with children doing the lyrics; presumably because some [[Executive Meddling|studio executive]] feared that ''Avril Lavigne'' may have been too hard-edged for children on her own. However, the actual ''content'' of said lyrics is almost entirely unchanged, resulting in songs about sex, drugs, suicide, and misogyny (among other things) being marketed toward kids. [httphttps://web.archive.org/web/20051030145853/http://www.teevee.net/archive/2004/10/04/index.html Chris Rywalt has pointed this out.]
* The Dandy Warhol's song ''Bohemian Like You'' was used for a Pontiac car commercial. The first line makes sense, "You got a great car", but fans of the group were singing the next line, "yeah, what's wrong with it today".
* For years, Chevrolet used Bob Seger's "Like A Rock" for its line of trucks. It recently switched to ridiculously [[Eagle Land|Eagleland-ish]] commercials with John Mellencamp's "Our Country" (despite Mellencamp's criticism of Seger for "selling out"). And, after years of it seeming a natural fit, Chevy has picked up "American Pie" -- or—or part of the chorus, at least -- forleast—for its car ads. Something about that Chevy at the levee...
** A competing pickup truck ad called GM on the carpet for that. Its ad was a ballad about their truck coming across a broken-down Chevrolet truck and rescuing it. The end of the ballad is "It's some kinda rock, all right."
* A positively painful [[Broken Aesop]] from years ago: "The City of New Orleans", about the death of the railroad industry, being used as a car commercial.
* "Lust for Life" by [[Iggy Pop]] is a rather harsh, cynical song about drug abuse and selling ones' soul to the music industry. So naturally, it's been used as a jingle by everything from cruise lines to banks. Do the advertisers even ''listen'' to these songs before using them?
** Parodied by [[The Onion]] in the article [https://web.archive.org/web/20100304134125/http://www.theonion.com/content/node/38780 'song about heroin used to advertise bank'.]
* According to an [[Urban Legend]] that circulated in the mid to late 1980s, the re-election campaign for Ronald Reagan had originally wanted John Cougar Mellencamp's 'Pink Houses' as a campaign theme, apparently unaware of the actual meaning of the song. The response from Mellencamp -- whoMellencamp—who is known for his radical politics (some versions of the legend even claim he is a [http://iww.org Wobblie]) -- was supposedly rather colorful. Regardless of how much or how little truth there is to the UL, it reflects the way advertising campaigns often pick theme songs based on the tone and a few well-known lines without considering the actual ''message'' of the song as a whole. Another legend reputes that Reagan had also considered using Robert Johnson's "Crossroads" -- a—a song about ''selling your soul to the Devil.''
** The Reagan campaign wanted to use Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A.", despite it having a line that says "Sent me off to [[The Vietnam War|a foreign land]] / To go and kill the yellow man".
*** There's an interview with the Boss where he basically says "I don't think the Republicans are actually listening to my music, especially not the ''Nebraska'' album."
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** Not to mention that the main theme of the song is about the selling of blood diamonds, as the title clearly indicates. Did Garnier's ad agency even look at the ''title?''
* Similar to the Reagan examples, the YMCA and U.S. Navy considered using the [[Village People]]'s "Y.M.C.A." and "In The Navy", respectively, but caught on to the fact that the songs celebrated homosexuality before they actually started using them.
** The latter song was actually used in promotional advertising for the United States Navy for a short time -- astime—as part of the deal, the music video was shot on a Navy frigate. The song was dropped from advertising because of protests over using taxpayer money to assist in the production of a then-controversial video.
* General Electric's short-lived ad campaign promoting coal usage (with sexy coal miners) used "Sixteen Tons" by Tennessee Ernie Ford, apparently oblivious to the fact that the song is about wage slavery. To the coal-mining industry.
* Viagra's rework of Elvis Presley's "Viva Las Vegas" into "Viva Viagra". Elvis Presley and Viagra.
** "Viva Las Vegas" means "Long Live Las Vegas". So "Viva Viagra" means "long live Viagra." Pfizer knows what it's doing.
* A current Pontiac ad campaign uses a cover version of Badfinger's "Come and Get It" -- a—a parody of materialism written for the film ''[[The Magic Christian]]'' -- to—to sell luxury sports cars. That alone would be bad enough, but in the movie, one of the early scenes has the [[Eccentric Millionaire]] protagonist presenting to his car company's board of directors the concept for an absurdly huge luxury car. Its reason for being is essentially to show off how wealthy, powerful, and British its owner is.
* Craig David's "What's Your Flava" -- a—a booty-call referring to the ladies as candy and ice-cream flavors -- usedflavors—used to sell Popeye's fried chicken, of all things.
* Didijin and Minelli, two Venezuelan jeans companies, used a lot of covers of popular songs for their TV commercials, with lyrics changed to talk about how good their jeans looked.
* Robert Palmer's "Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor)" almost seems like it was made to be used in Dr. Pepper commercials, despite existing for years before they started using it for that purpose.
* Target is using "Hello Goodbye" in its ads -- andads—and they carefully changed the spelling to put on the screen "Hello Goodbuy."
** Only the chorus and the "hey la"s. Any more, and we would ''still'' get hints of what this song is really about: the failure to connect. Target isn't trying to be touchy-feely, but you can only go so far...
** And then there's Target's use of [[Devo]]'s "Beautiful World" ("it's a beautiful world we live in..."), of course omitting the subsequent lines "...for you" and "it's not for me")
* The infamous 1988 Nike ads using [[The Beatles]]' "Revolution" got such a big backlash that it's more or less the reason you only hear cover versions of their tunes used for this purpose, unless it's advertising something Beatles-related.
* And there are the "All You Need Is Luvs" ads, which ought to be [[Kill It Withwith Fire|Killed With Fire]].
* [http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=J2UVVxe04pI This] Ethel Merman "Vel" commercial
* The Buzzcocks' "What Do I Get?" was, weirdly enough, used in a Toyota SUV commercial. By reducing the song to its chorus of "what do I get/oh oh, what do I get" (the answer presumably being extra cup holders and plenty of cargo space), it omitted the song's whole unrequited-love theme, not to mention the fatalistic closing lyrics:
{{quote| What do I get<br />
Nothing that's nice<br />
What do I get<br />
nothing at all at all at all at all at all at all at all<br />
'cos I don't get you. }}
* Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son" being used to sell Wrangler jeans. They only used the first two lyrics (about waving the flag, being red white and blue), ignoring the rest of the song, which is about how politicians got their children out of Vietnam. Intentional in this case; Saul Zaentz, the producer who owns [[JRRJ. TolkienR. (Creator)R. Tolkien|JRR Tolkien]]'s movie rights and most of CCR's catalogue and who has been engaged in a feud with CCR singer John Fogerty for some years (he [http[wikipedia://enFogerty v.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fogerty_v._Fantasy Fantasy|once -- unsuccessfully -- sued Fogerty]] for plagiarizing ''himself'', in that his solo songs sounded too much like Creedence tunes), sold the song to Wrangler to anger Fogerty.
* The NFL advertised the competitive nature of their sport by using Edwin Starr's "War" to promote the league. However, they were careful about it in that they simply repeated the "War" portion of the song while stopping short of the "What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!" portion.
** It should be noted that ABC and ESPN have used a rewritten version of Hank Williams Jr.'s "All My Rowdy Friends Are Comin' Over Tonight" to advertise Monday Night Football, performed by Bocephus himself.
* A recent cell phone commercial has [[Meat Loaf]] singing ''Paradise by the Dashboard Light'' with different, cell-phone related, lyrics. This on its own is peculiar, considering the [[Anti -Love Song]] nature of the song itself. The fact that he's singing it to his ''[[Unfortunate Implications|son]]''...
** A more recent Meat Loaf single, ''I'd do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)'' was used humorously for a Dr Pepper commercial in which a man does increasingly unmanly things to please his girlfriend as the lyrics play. She tries to take a drink of his Dr. Pepper just as the chorus begins. And he leaves her.
* The hook for [[Of Montreal]]'s "Wraith Pinned to the Mist (and Other Games)" ''rewritten'' for an Outback Steakhouse commercial ("Let's get Outback tonight"). Convincingly, too -- ittoo—it made it sound like their quirky indie hit had always been a commercial jingle.
* In [httphttps://wwwweb.archive.org/web/20090430111242/http://qwantz.com/archive/001214.html this strip] from ''[[Dinosaur Comics]]'', T-rex opines on product-specific lyrics.
* In a weird example, Venezuelan folk singer and composer [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Simón_Díaz:Simón Díaz|Simón Díaz]] (the old man who composed [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Caballo_Viejo:Caballo Viejo|Caballo Viejo]]) is openly opposed to the use of his famous songs (not even in covers) in commercials. Instead, he offers to compose and sing songs specially suited for the campaign or the product. Not your typical jingle, I can assure you.
* If ever there was a song begging to be used in a cell phone commercial, it's the Who's ''Goin' Mobile''. A 2008 ad for Fox's Seattle affiliate uses it to promote a service that sends you news headlines by text message.
* In 1968, Jim Morrison vetoed a request from Buick, which the other members of the Doors approved of, to use the song "Light My Fire" in a commercial. In a bit of self-parody over the affray, when Robbie Krieger penned the song "Touch Me" later that year, he ended it with the four-note [[Sting (music)|Sting]] from an Ajax commercial popular at the time, and the final lyrics are Ajax's then-slogan, "Stronger Than Dirt".
* Samsung recently used the song "Signal in the Sky" by indie rockers The Apples in Stereo in an ad for one of their phones. This makes the ad painfully hard to take seriously if you know the song, as it's about ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]''.
* Toyota rewrote "Mambo No. 5" to describe all the improvements to the new Corolla. Perhaps the song's even better this way.
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** Applebee's also had a commercial with the implied message that eating at Applebee's was patriotic and all-American set to the first few lines of Creedence Clearwater Revival's [[Protest Song|"Fortunate Son"]]: "Some folks are born made to wave the flag, ooh that red, white and blue." They neglected to use the very next line: "But when the band plays 'Hail To The Chief', ooh they point the cannon at you. It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no Fortunate Son."
* An even more hilarious re-writing of "Bread and Butter":
{{quote| ''I like bread and butter,<br />
''I like toast and jam,<br />
''I like the pure and simple things,<br />
''[[Lyrical Dissonance|And that's why I like SPAM!]]'' }}
* Tom Waits, who was notoriously anti-commercial in his early years, was saddled with a combination of the second and third variety of [['''Repurposed Pop Song]]''' when a company completely rewrote the lyrics to his song "Step Right Up" (itself a parody of hucksterish commercialism) to sell their product. Waits refused to endorse the (re-written) song, the product, or consent to the use of the melody. So the company hired a convincing sound-a-like to sing the repurposed lyrics. Waits heard the jingle on the radio and spent some time calling everyone he knew in order to refute he had anything to do with it. All this to sell...Cheetos.
** A later use of a Waits song (in a Levi's ad) was made even more painful because the sound alike hired was Screamin' Jay Hawkins, one of Waits's biggest influences.
** He still ''is'' notoriously anti-commercial. He sued both these companies. And '''''WON'''''. That's why you don't mess with [[Badass|Tom motherfuckin Waits]].
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* Kahlua? Nice stuff, but "Brown Sugar" did not help in selling it, since the song was [[Unfortunate Implications|about white slave owners having sex with black slave women]]. Classy.
** Pepsi used "Brown Sugar" at some point in the 90's as well. In this case, it was sung by a CGI ant (or was it a fly?)
* A [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdXiiDAfSPc Starbucks ad] uses a reworded version of [[Rocky III|The Eye of the Tiger]], complete with the band [[Survivor (Musicband)|Survivor]] performing in the commercial.
* In Australia, "Bend Me, Shake Me" by Amen Corner is used to advertise -- ofadvertise—of all things -- Begathings—Bega cheese sticks.
** Cheesestrings UK adverts changed it to "Bend me, shake me, any way you want me / You got a Cheeststring, you're alright"
* The Six Flags commercials featuring "Mr. Six" used an instrumental version of "We Like to Party" by the Vengaboys.
* Hampton Inn has a new commercial featuring part of "With a Little Help From My Friends" -- The—The line "get high with a little help from my friends" is not included.
** It had previously been repurposed with the same altered lyrics by either K-Mart or Target for store-brand children's summer clothing and poolwear. At least they had the "decency" to hack it to bits in order to remove any references to drugs or relationships.
* Kids from the 80's remember the song "Happy Together" less by the Turtles and more by General Mills trying to sell us Golden Grahams.
** It was also used in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K783SDTBKmg this brilliant ad] for ''[[Super Smash Bros.]].''
** The song was used by a Malaysian chicken meat conglomerate called Ayamas to sell chicken produce.
*** It's now a love song between [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XamN-GKLsF4 two star-crossed Twix bars].
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** The same company uses Peter Schilling's "[[David Bowie|Space Oddity]]" follow-up "Major Tom (Coming Home)" (as performed by Shiny Toy Guns) for a later model of that very same car.
* "No Milk Today" by Herman's Hermits has been used for a widely-spread ad for the main dairy company in Norway, Tine Melk. Very funny, actually.
* The Obama campaign used "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOm-uIPzqpI&feature=related The Rising]" by Bruce Springsteen as a victory/rally commencement song. It's a rather depressing song about a [https://web.archive.org/web/20070909001946/http://www.brucespringsteen.net/songs/TheRising.html firefighter] climbing the doomed Twin Towers, and just happens to have a an upbeat chorus contrasting increasingly dire verses. Oddly enough, Springsteen endorsed Obama and played the song live a few times for his events.
** Not to be outdone, the McCain/Palin campaign got Hank Williams Jr. to re-do his song "Family Tradition" into "McCain/Palin Tradition".
*** Before that, John McCain's campaign briefly used "Johnny B. Goode", but Chuck Berry made them stop.
* Skyline Chili aired a long-running radio commercial using a rewritten version of "[http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight_Time_:Twilight Time (song) |Twilight Time]]." "It's Skyline time" remained a catchphrase even after the advertisements switched to another song.
* [[Sea -Bond]] denture adhesive advertises with an upbeat version of "Bye Bye Love," sung gleefully (and painfully out of key) by three older women (and one older man, bearing more than a passing resemblance to Stanley Zbornak from ''[[The Golden Girls]]'') as "Bye bye paste!"
* There is a Benylin cough-medicine ad featuring the chorus of the Clash's "Should I Stay Or Should I Go". Its context? Should the woman stay at home, or go to work?
* ''[[The Goodies (TV)|The Goodies]]''` theme song ''Goody Goody Yum Yum'' was used to advertise wine gums, the lyrics altered to ''Goody Goody Yum Gums''.
* Nena's "99 Red Balloons" appeared in a jewelry commercial a few years ago. Nothing makes one want to buy fake diamonds like the threat of nuclear holocaust.
** Perhaps an even worse example for that same song: a local radio commercial in the middle Georgia area sets a jingle for a ''steakhouse'' to the tune of "99 Red Balloons".
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* A 1982 7Up commercial used the last example in basically reworking Kim Carnes' "Bette Davis Eyes" for the soft drink (which also worked in a ''Pac-Man'' parody)
* [[Frank Mills]]' [[Easy Listening]] hit, "Music Box Dancer" has been used in many a ice cream truck ever since it hit the billboard charts in the late 1970's
* One car company chose to advertise its work with the New Radicals' ''You Get What You Give'', which is predominantly about refusing to surrender (and also states a willingness to kick celebrities' asses...really). How this is related to cars, [[Dungeons and& Dragons|Vecna]] only knows. Let's not forget the line "Every night we crash a Mercedes Benz"....
** A few years ago Mitsubishi's Australian ad campaign was also based around "You Get What You Give." [[Refuge in Audacity]], or corporate ignorance?
* Visa Check Card commercials are particular offenders, using Raymond Scott's [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-L5QGllGfU Powerhouse] to invoke a factory floor, and (horrifyingly) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZBm8749I0U using the theme from Brazil] to remind us of a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUzn8tobguk dystopian paperwork-filled nightmare], apparently. It seems so apt that it's almost impossible to chalk up to coincidence.
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** KFC used an lyrically-altered version of the song to advertise Kentucky Nuggets in Malaysia back in the 80s.
* A 2000 Burger King commercial featured the Backstreet Boys singing a rehashed version of their hit "I Want It That Way" (which ended with Burger King's "Have it your way" slogan)
* Sir Mix-a-Lot did a jaw-dropping remake of "Baby Got Back"-- with—with a ''[[SpongebobSpongeBob SquarePants]]'' (!!) theme-- fortheme—for Burger King in early 2009. The long version of the commercial is [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5X4TSbGreA here.]
* Home Quarters Warehouse used a (slightly) product-specific reworking of "Rescue Me" by Fontella Bass which worked "HQ to the rescue" into the refrain.
* A 2004 ad campaign for Coke's short-lived "C2" used Queen's ''I Want To Break Free'', a song about ''coming out of the closet to one's family'', as its jingle.
* A year or two ago, GE used Donovan's "Catch the Wind" in a commercial describing their use of wind power -- apower—a bit ironic considering that the singer uses the phrase "I may as well try and catch the wind" to describe how useless his efforts to woo someone are.
* Sometime in the early [[The Nineties|1990s]], Domino's Pizza ran ads for their buffalo wings which turned the chorus of "We Will Rock You" into [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1-GAD_Qs5g "Gotta be, gotta be Domino's (Buffalo Wings)"].
** Also used by [[Cran Berry]]Cranberry Juice Cocktail: "Crave the Wave!" Always wanted to try them together after that.
* James Brown's "I Got You (I Feel Good)" was used in the early 90s commercials for Senokot (a ''laxative'').
** Wot, they couldn't get Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "Constipation Blues"?
* The Discovery Channel's "The World is Just Awesome" ads are built on a Repurposed Traditional Song.
* Recent Cialis ads have been using a cover version of "Be My Baby".
* A current commercial for the 2010 Lincoln MKS features a techno cover of ''Burnin' For You'', by [[Blue OysterÖyster Cult (Music)|Blue Oyster Cult]], performed by Shiny Toy Guns.
* "I Melt With You" in ''any'' commercial involving melted food products.
** One use was especially ironic; it was for a limited-edition Burger King sandwich -- somesandwich—some kind of "cheddar/mushroom melt" thing -- butthing—but the band got really upset when they heard that, because one of the band members was vegan.
* Canadian restaurant chain Boston Pizza ran a series of TV ads featuring repurposed versions of Yello's "Oh Yeah".
* Chrysler used the (very recognizable) hook from Hum's "Stars," a song about a nervous breakdown.
* Some years back, an ad for feminine products used "There She Goes" by the La's. Nice peppy little tune, superficially sounding in favor of an active woman. Except the next line is "racing through my brain", and the song is purported to be about heroin.
* In 2006, Kraft got EMF to re-record their hit "Unbelievable" in a series of ads where the lyrics had been changed to be all about... Kraft Cheese Crumbles. ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFjctVBg6K8 seriously]). This silliness of this was later lampooned on ''[[The Colbert Report]]'' with a special report called [http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/73425/august-23-2006/american-pop-culture--it-s-crumbelievable----pop-culture-icons American Pop Culture: It's Crumbelievable].
* Not only is this phenomenon not limited to America, but even video game music isn't safe from this trope, as proven by [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZxSgpfJBmg this commercial (one of four variants)] which uses the ''[[Bubble Bobble (Video Game)|Bubble Bobble]]'' theme of all things to advertise for Samyang Ramen. [https://web.archive.org/web/20120125232856/http://blog.livedoor.jp/htmk73/archives/552569.html Here's proof that Taito licensed the song]. At least the song never had lyrics to begin with.
** A 1990s ad for Ariston appliances in the UK [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUVs7vXNZiw used the theme from the Game Boy version of Robocop].
* A commercial for Hood (the milk company) once used the song "Scatman" by the late [[Scatman John]].
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* In the UK, a version of Eddy Grant's "Gimme Hope Jo'anna" with new lyrics is used to advertise the yoghurt drink Yop. The original song was a protest against apartheid.
* A German commercial for Buko cream cheese uses the beginning of the [[Velvet Underground]] song "Sunday Morning" together with all the happy family breakfast imagery. While the song possesses a tune that might remind you of a lullaby, the lyrics are rather ominous (''Watch out, the world's behind you/There's always someone behind you/Here it comes/It's nothing at all'').
** "Sunday Morning" sounds pretty, and its lyrics are the least defiantly-offensive on the LP ''The Velvet Underground and Nico''. But on an LP notorious for topics including: heroin addiction, masochism, brutal street life, obsession resembling ''[[Persona (Filmfilm)|Persona]]'', domestic violence, death and [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|fashion victims]] [''pause for breath''], a cynical song could easily appear benign, in contrast.
* Mazda's "Zoom Zoom Zoom" (or "Zum Zum Zum") is the first part of a song by Serapis Bey. The song is about capoeira (an Afro-Brazilian martial art form), and at least one part of the lyrics talks about how dangerous capoeira is.
* The NFL has been using Skillet's lead single "Hero" in commercials and bumpers, carefully staying in the instrumental without going through the praying-to-God-for-rescue lyrics. Hilariously, the FOX Network in bumpers advertising NFL games has been using Franz Ferdinand's song "The Fallen" which is about Jesus Christ.
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* A yoghurt commercial in the UK is using the song 'I Got Life' from the musical ''Hair'' to sell itself. Unfortunately the song is about a hippie explaining to his square parents just how much more awesome, cool and alive his drug-addled self is than they are. Oops.
** Someone seemed to notice this, and the adverts now come with an awkward re-written cover describing the myriad flavours available.
* In the 1970's, Miss Clairol Hair Color made things very tricky for all productions of the show SOUTH PACIFIC, and they got to the point when Nellie sings "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out Of My Hair" -- because—because everyone in the audience was thinking, "wait, isn't it 'wash that GRAY right out of my hair'?"
* The 1992 [[Bill Clinton|Clinton]] Presidential campaign used Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop" (although they listed the title as "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow").
{{quote| I know you don't believe that it's true<br />
I never meant any harm to you }}
* Circuit City used 'Just What I Needed' by The Cars for one ill-fated advertising campaign near the end of their corporate lifespan. The song is about a [[Lyrical Dissonance|one-night stand]].
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* KFC used a rewritten version of [[The Monkees]]' ''[[Daydream Believer]]'' in a commercial that aired in Malaysia in the 90s. The commercial also featured a pair of kids bickering over whether [[Batman]] or [[Superman]] is superior (KFC secured the merchandising license for the entire Warner Bros character catalog back then, so of course they're smug about it).
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc7dbwzPeKA This '70s commercial] for the Detroit Institute of Arts turned the ''[[Damn Yankees]]'' song "You Gotta Have Heart" to - what else? - "You Gotta Have Art".
* The Clash's version of "Pressure Drop" was used to advertise for the Nissan Rogue. I don't know what [http://www.elyrics.net/read/c/clash-lyrics/pressure-drop-lyrics.html the lyrics] are about, but they don't seem to apply to compact [[SU Vs]]SUVs.
* In 2010, Macy's controversially used the song [[Rent|"Seasons of Love"]] -- a—a tribute to love of all kinds -- tokinds—to sell jewelry. The use of only straight couples didn't help matters, either.
* What's the perfect song to sell margarine? If you answered "Desmond Dekker's ''Israelites''", then [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9CH1n9tNV0&feature=related you'd be right]...
* A truly bizarre one comes from [[Modern Egypt|Egypt]], where in 2011 [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSwGDfu0Yps this ad] came out, using a rewritten version of ''"[[Lady Gaga|Bad Romance]]"'' to shill...Romero processed cheese. Add that Egypt is kind of a conservative country, and...
* [[Saturday Night Live]] did a skit about this: a commercial for an album of classic songs that parents and teens could enjoy together--thetogether—the parents because they grew up listening to them, the kids because they knew them from commercials. The Beach Boys/Sunkist example above was one of the selections.
* The [[Atari 5200]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XL1kiD0tRyE commercial for] ''[[Mario Bros (Video Game)|Mario Bros.]]'' repurposed [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTi0XViw074 the opening theme from] ''[[Car 54, Where Are You?]]''.
* Office Depot famously used BTO's "Takin' Care of Business" in a long-running series of ads.
* Quite a few local Honda car dealerships have repurposed "La Bamba": "You should be driving a Honda, from [insert name of dealership] Honda..."
* Marks & Spencer had a disturbing Christmas commercial with a children's choir singing "Falling In Love Again" from the film ''The Blue Angel.'' Most people don't realize the full implications of the song. The original song is "what ''[[Blazing Saddles]]'' was parodying with "I'm Tired" - a song sung from the perspective of a jaded seductress about how so many men destroy themselves out of desire for her. (Come to think of it, that sort of song is appropriate for a corporation...)
* Payless [[Shoe Source]] for some reason thought it would be a great idea to shill children's shoes with the song ''Paleontologist'' by [[They Might Be Giants]]
* The Halifax Bank, a British financial institution with a reputation for [[Put a Face Onon The Company|auditioning its own staff to star in big song-and-dance musical adverts]] (which are generally as naff and dreadful as they sound) exploited Vanilla Ice's ''Ice, Ice Baby'' to shift a savings product known as an ''ISA'' (see what they did there?) Halifax adverts merit a trope all of their own....
* Kohl's has used a product-specific cover of [[Friday (Musicsong)|Rebecca Black's "Friday"]] to promote their Black Friday sale. Some of the ads do involve a little [[Lampshade Hanging]] about what an annoying [[Ear Worm]] it is.
* Hershey's has been using lite pop covers of Modern English's "I Melt With You" in recent adverts (like [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjSu5g600A0 this one]) for Hershey Bars, including [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpP51j74Iyg a jolly Christmasy version] for the holiday season. The song itself is about [[Intercourse Withwith You|making love]] during a nuclear holocaust.
* "Where Everybody Knows Your Name", best known as the ''[[Cheers]]'' theme song, is now appearing in State Farm insurance ads, minus the line about always being glad you came. Presumably, being glad that people are coming to them with insurance claims after various misfortunes would convey the wrong image.
* One local ABC affiliate used to promote their airings of two episodes of ''[[Full House]]'' in a row with a version of Madness' "Our House" that changed the chorus to "''Hour'' House" (since it's a half-hour show and all).
* In 2011 Honda thought the best way to sell their Honda Civic Si to the young female demographic was with the fun exploits of a masked, super-heroesque girl flying around town in her Si to the tune of MC Chris's “Hoodie Ninja.” Which is about wrapping a sweatshirt around your face and, among other things, peeping on a girl from your homeroom as she undresses in her bedroom. Yeah, that fit the demographic perfectly...
* [[Ted Nugent]]'s "Stranglehold" is now selling VW Jettas. Strange, considering Ted is well-known to be from Detroit/Michigan. Also, there's the lyrics, which one wouldn't normally consider family-friendly.
* [[Ben Folds Five (Music)|Ben Folds Five]]'s "Rockin' The Suburbs" was originally a profanity-laced [[Take That]] aimed at bad radio rock and [[Emo Teen|whiny suburban teenagers]] who like it. In ''[[Over the Hedge (Filmanimation)|Over the Hedge]]'', however, the lyrics instead mocked suburban banality in language suitable for a family film. (This is actually an inversion of the trope, as the original was recorded in 1998.)
* The ending theme of the first season of ''[[Jackie Chan Adventures (Animation)|Jackie Chan Adventures]]'' [[Wasted Song|(when the station actually played it)]] was a snippet of a [[Music/Wheatus|Wheatus]] song credited as "Jackie Chan's The Man". In truth, the song is nothing more than relevant lyrics written over their earlier song "Punk Ass Bitch".
* [[Vertical Horizon (Music)|Vertical Horizon]] re-recorded one of their songs from an earlier album, 'Heart in Hand' for the soundtrack for the movie [[The New Guy]]. The lyrics were much blander for the experience, although the band does mix in some of the new lyrics during live shows.
* The theme of ''[[Totally Spies!]]'' was [[Music/Moonbaby|Moonbaby]]'s "Here We Go," with its lyrics rewritten.
* An advertisment for ''[[Monopoly]] Electronic Banking Edition'' features Jessie J's "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMxX-QOV9tI Price Tag]" rewritten to go "It's all about the money, money". Yes, the ''exact opposite'' of what the original song says.
 
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[[Category:Advertising Tropes]]
[[Category:Music Tropes]]
[[Category:Repurposed Pop Song{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:TropePop]]
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