Song you like, but is now eternally associated with Volkswagons

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What song did you always like, but then Volkswagon used it in one of their commercials and now you can't listen to it without wanting to go out and buy a Jetta?

― Christopher Cprek (cprek), Monday, 20 January 2003 04:53 (twenty-three years ago)

Just saw the commericial the other day with the Walkmen's "We've Been Had". It's hard to listen to it without feeling mentally violated.

― Christopher Cprek (cprek), Monday, 20 January 2003 04:54 (twenty-three years ago)

While I like the Trio song "Da Da Da", it certainly isn't my favourite of theirs. I've heard it's *really, really, really* associated with Volkswagens now, though, so that should compensate for any lack of enthusiasm on my part.

― tom (other), Monday, 20 January 2003 05:04 (twenty-three years ago)

Just saw the commericial the other day with the Walkmen's "We've Been Had".

Yeah, seeing a Saturn commercial usually makes me want to run out and buy a Volkswagen, too.

― paul cox (paul cox), Monday, 20 January 2003 05:17 (twenty-three years ago)

i kind of like that commercial
the first time i saw it i thought it was a movie or a tv show
i would have watched it

― liz p. (lizjoydiv), Monday, 20 January 2003 08:42 (twenty-three years ago)

Yeah, seeing a Saturn commercial usually makes me want to run out and buy a Volkswagen, too.

My bad. I can't tell the difference anymore.

― Christopher Cprek (cprek), Monday, 20 January 2003 14:17 (twenty-three years ago)

i.e. the "mentally violating" ad is once again proved completely useless.

― Tom (Groke), Monday, 20 January 2003 14:20 (twenty-three years ago)

Useless at selling the product, at least.

Christopher - prevalent line of thought round these parts seems to be that it will not 'eternally' be associated, nor even in your own head for any length of time (see - you've forgotten the ad details already), and because music is so powerful and advertising so weak in comparison a song will eventually triumph over any and all particular personal/social contexts for it.
I'm not sure whether this is based on commonly experienced psychology as leaky-memory and adaptability; a general kind of romanticism of music (as opposed to a 'Darling They're Playing MY Tune' individual-connection 'sentimentalism'); an approach (perhaps suspiciously asymmetrical?) to how one's -ve feelings should be less blindingly self-centred both in time (your sense of violation should only be a temporary thing because as small mobile adaptible mammals one ought to be able to 'move on') and space (it's not just YOUR song anyway).

(It's not a line I'm convinced by yet - though, to probably misconstrue mark s on a previous thread: it certainly has the advantage of being more coherent and 'notatable' over it's opposites/alternatives, and trying to figure out where it seems somehow inadequate is like trying to get a grip on a ghost...)

― Snowy Mann (rdmanston), Monday, 20 January 2003 17:11 (twenty-three years ago)

I don't mind since the music seems to govern the commercials rather than the other way around (Volkswagen's loss I suppose), and I could never afford a car anyway so the "commercial" aspects are purely theoretical for me.

― Amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 20 January 2003 17:12 (twenty-three years ago)

I think the way to oppose it Snowy would be to get more of a grip on where exactly the sense of offense comes from - it always seems to me an instant reaction (whether learned or gut) which is fair enough but that reaction is rarely analysed further. Anatomising the feeling (rather than looking at the reasons for it) wd help I think.

― Tom (Groke), Monday, 20 January 2003 17:24 (twenty-three years ago)

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