We were at home last night, spacy and exhausted and therefore inattentive to little things like pressing the mute button when the commercials came on. I wasn't paying attention to them, however, until suddenly the opening bars of Le Tigre's "Deceptacon" blared out into my living room. I whipped my head around hard enough to dislocate something, briefly convinced that the universe as I knew it was coming apart. It took me a few seconds to figure out that what was actually happening is that the song is now a Telus commercial, complete with zippy iguana.
I know I'm supposed to be all scornful that they've sold out. But mostly, I'm amused by the idea that thousands of people will get this song stuck in their heads. Imagine the horrified looks of Paris Hilton wannabes with their little little cell phones if they ever knew that the hip-sounding jingle for their company was produced by feminist queers. As for me, it does not make me want to purchase Telus services--it makes me hope Le Tigre has a new album out soon. I hope they got paid good, so they can afford to keep doing the things I love them for.
*****
On the topic of commercials, does anyone else think the one for the goldfish crackers is weird? The fact that it begins "here's our jingle for goldfish" is a line that makes me think the writers panicked at the deadline.
"Frank, this has to be recorded for nine a.m. It's seven-thirty now. I've got nothing, man, nothing."
"Okay, okay...how does this sound? 'here's our jingle for goldfish...ah something something goldfish...the yummy snack that smiles back...until you bite their heads off'?"
"We are so fired."
Except that they weren't, and now that ad airs with the cheery line about decapitation all the time. As my friend Shannon used to say, there's no longer a need for satire. It's self-generating.
Friday, September 17, 2004
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2 comments:
I'm happy Le Tigre "sold out". They're a great band and they totally deserve to be able to make enough money to live off of without worrying about their cred. I'm gonna try to avoid going on a rant but people who complain about their favourite band 'selling out' generally have no idea how impossible it is to surive as a full time original band without a trust fund. Everyone I know either comes off tour and scrambles to find a new apartment, or moves back in with their folks. Uh, not that there's anything wrong with living with your parents...
Le Tigre does have a new album coming out...and they're gonna be in town on October 25th. Are you going? Cuz I sure am!
When Jon saw the commercial, he called me to bemoan Le Tigre's selling out...but as Telus is my cell phone company, and apparently there's an iguana in the ad, how can I complain too much? Also, I'd much rather hear Deceptacon than just about any other song in an ad.
~heather
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