The
End of Selling Out
I
went to see Dreamcatcher at the movies a couple weeks back
(which is pretty messy plot-wise, but a hoot if you've read the book)
and before the movie started was bombarded with what is quickly becoming
the worst part of any movie going experience: the Coca-Cola ad.
Now,
I'm a Coke guy, not a Pepsi guy, but I really, really hate having
to watch commercials before my movies. If I'm watching TV or listening
to the radio, fine, but I paid to see the movie not the ad. But now
the ads have taken an awful, horrible twist that has forced PieDriver
to finally throw up its collective hands in disgust and call an end
to what was once a noble endeavor and now just seems pointless.
The
Coca-Cola ad shown is a funky little acid-jazz number featuring Mya
and Common (and can be seen here)
rapping and singing in a cool video that apparently explains Common's
choice not to sell out because, you know, that wouldn't be "real."
Of course, "The Real Thing " is Coke's trademarked motto,
and apparently transcends drinking a soft drink and moves into actual
poetic license. The video shows Common frustrated at the industry's
attempts to market him (it even shows him being pitched a Common action
figure), which, again, isn't "Real." He goes so far to rap
about it in the song, with these lyrics that are available at Coke's
web site:
The
real can't be bought or sold, taught or told
The boy tried to keep it but he lost his soul
On the road to riches but he lost control
'bout the eye of the needle I was often told
If you stand for nothing, you'll fall for the gold
In ya actions all is told
Well,
that just about says it all, doesn't it? These are lines been sung/rapped
in a song sponsored wholly by Coke. Watch the video. It's a pretty
cool, funky song, though nothing ground-breaking. But every 15 seconds
or so, one of the performers steps away from the microphone to sip
on a nice, cool Coca-Cola. In the end, it doesn't matter what Common
and Mya are singing about (although the idea that Coke can brand "The
Real Thing" and sell it to you as something beyond just a soft
drink is a bit depressing - of course I'm also reading Naomi Klein's
"No Logo" which is about just that sort of issue) because
the song exists to promote Coca-Cola and the performers are paid quite
a bit of money to perform in this video and write this song and generally
endorse all things Coke.
And
that's when it dawns on me: this isn't advertising, nor is it entertainment.
It's advertainment, and as silly as that may sound (in some episode
Homer Simpson watches the News with Kent Brochman and says, "Ahh,
infotainment) that's what this is truly all about. The value of art
or entertainment becomes sidelined by the product (or slogan or motto)
being sold. In the end, it doesn't matter what Common and Mya are
singing about because they are doing it because Coke pays them to.
He thinks he's singing about The Real Thing, but that's just another
expression of Buy Our Product.
Which
brings us to our page of sell-outs. We could keep tracking all the
people who take money from corporations to endorse their products,
but we would never keep up. Regardless of our antiquated "artistic
standards," taking money from a corporation to endorse its products
has become common practice. Everyone (just about) is doing it, and
as the snowball rolls and grows it will only become more and more
difficult to resist the temptation to suckle at the golden teat of
corporate sponsorship. Peer pressure, especially when it involves
money, is very hard to resist. I don't see many bands holding their
ground.
Our
list then becomes pointless. Really, we should almost do a list of
those who don't sell out, but that's just silly anyway. It just becomes
another forest of ideals chopped down in the great push to trademark
anything and everything.
My
only hope is then that sometime, maybe in ten years or so, it becomes
a point of pride for those artists who lived and worked through the
'90s and '00s and didn't sell out. When almost everyone has sold their
songs and faces to Pepsi, Coke, Microsoft, and the Gap, those who
just play their music because they love music can actually be taken
seriously.
-
Pie Driver Dave (4/21/03)
Iggy
& The Stooges = "Search & Destroy" for Nike
Iggy Pop = "The Passenger", for some car company (Ford?
Nissan? I don't remember and frankly don't want to remember!)
Chuck D. = Powerade
Run
DMC and LL Cool J = Dr. Pepper (What a shame!)
Ozzy Osbourne & Clan =
Pepsi
Donnie and Marie Osmand = Pepsi
Sheryl
Crow = Jeep
Morphine = MGD
Flaming Lips = HP
3 Doors Down = Bud Light
Styx = California Cheese (What the Hell?)
Enrique
Iglesias = Doritos
Toby "Ford Truck Man" Keith = Ford Trucks
Andrew WK =Coors
Donovan = levi dockers
Johnny Cash = Applebees
Suzanne Vega = Nissan
Les Sans Culottes = Hewlitt Packard
Limp Bizkit = Worthington's beer
Sting
= Compaq/HP
Macy Gray = Ford Focus
David Bowie = Absolut Vodka
Sex Pistols = Absolut Vodka
Blondie = Mazda
Happy Mondays = Sainsbury's supermarket
The
Beach Boys = Evian mineral water
Malcolm McLaren = British Airways, Coca Cola and Minute Maid
U2 = Guinness Pub Draught
The Pointer Sisters = Cadbury's Crunchie chocolate bars
Marilyn Manson = Vodaphone
Kris
Kristopherson = Gap
Willie
Nelson = Gap
Daft
Punk = Gap
LL Cool J =Gap
Aerosmith = Gap
ZZ Top = Gap (like *that's* really a product they're naturally
associated with anyway. At least with the old "Schlitz Rocks
America" ads you could imagine them drinking Schlitz. Can you
see Dusty Hill wearing chinos and a cotton pullover? I didn't think
so!)
David Bowie
= Renault
Deeelite = Fiat
The Specials = Sainsburys supermarket chain).
Sting = Jaguar (celebrity defender of the environment for the brand
new gas-guzzling, C02-emitting, Ozone-depleting automobile. But hey,
whatcha gonna do? It's a nice looking car!)
James = Ford
Shane MacGowan = Harp Lager
Garth Brooks = Dr. Pepper
Reba McEntire = Pepsi
INXS = McDonalds
T Rex = Mitsubishi
Bare Naked Ladies = Mitsubishi
Led Zeppelin = Cadillac
Nick Drake = Volkswagon & Nike
Oingo Boingo = Budweiser
Devo = Target
Blur = Chrysler & Mercedes-Benz & Nissan
TMBG = Chrysler
Republica = Mitsubishi
Curtis Mayfield = Mitsubishi
Iggy Pop = Royal Caribbean Int & Guinness & FTD
The Smiths = Nissan
The Cult = Nissan
The Smithereens = Nissan
Suzane Vega = Nissan
Stoned Temple Pilots = Nissan
Seal = Nissan
Smash Mouth = Nissan
the Breeders = Nissan
Lenny Kravitz = Nissan
Stevie Ray Vaughn = Nissan
Chemical Brothers = Nissan
Lit = Nissan
Phillip Glass = Pepsi
The Specials = Pampers
Buzzcocks = Toyota
Sly & the Family Stone = Toyota
Styx = Volkswagon
Steve Miller Band = USPS
Minutemen = Volvo
CCR = Wrangler
Stereolab = Volkswagon
Charles Mingus = Volkswagon
Red House Painters = Gap
Low = Gap
Dandy Warhols = Gap
Cornershop = Gap
Bill Withers = Gap & Pringles
David Bowie = FTD
Cream = Hyundai
Pet Shop Boys = Ford
Dwight Yoakam = Gap
Crystal Method = Gap
Danny Elfman = Chanel
Soup Dragons = AT&T
Rolling Stones = Apple & Microsoft
Van Halen = Pepsi
The Who = Clarinex & Nissan
Beatles = Nike & Lincoln-Mercury
Donovan = Gap
Lyle Lovett = Lexus
Korn = Puma
Talvin Singh = Phillips
James = Westin Hotels
Clannad = Volkswagen
Long Riders = Miller Beer
Leon Redbone = Budweiser
