popular thinking

JINGLES, ALL THE WAY OR NO WAY? The Boston Globe's Sunday story about the disappearing ad jingle makes for an interesting read. "The irresistible, singable, stick-in-your-mindable jingle is dead." Really? Methinks this is both a faulty headline and a faulty premise, as the reporting doesn't back up that headline/premise, instead showing that advertising campaigns may be changing but not without jingles. Joan thought she did her job by quoting up high a Berklee College of Music prof/jingle writer, who said:

"Everyone knows about Coca-Cola and McDonald's. They don't need ditties about their stuff. But Joe's Pizza Place needs to tell people where they are."

That's a nice quote, except for the fact that McDonald's, one of the top TV advertisers year-in and year-out, still uses "ditties" to sell its burgers and fries. Or haven't you heard this tune: "Da-de-de-DAH-DAH, I'm lovin' it!" The story goes on to report that music houses "are closing their doors in droves," followed by all of how many examples? That would be one example.

This other sentence also needs a response.

"But the jingle, as anyone with a television knows, is a vanishing art form."

Really? How about turning on the TV and leaving it on the commercials to see for yourself. Well, that would require actual reporting. So I did just that Sunday night for the season premiere of 24, logging the ads that interrupted the two-hour show. As my high school English teacher would say, context determines meaning, so let's make sure we know what we mean we talk of jingles. Jingle, as a noun in my Webster's dictionary: A jingling sound, or a verse that jingles; jingling arrangement of words. The verb form refers more to the simple repetitive sounds than to lyrics, which means that in the 21st century, we should view a jingle not just as a song that includes the company name in the lyrics, but also as music distinctly and easily identifiable as a company song.
At any rate.
During those two hours, the Phoenix Fox affiliate aired 65 ads, with 15 of those spots devoted to movie trailers, DVD releases and promos for other FOX network programs. Of the remaining ads (some of which duplicated during the 120 minutes), we saw and heard:

Jingles: T-Mobile, Burger King, Cingular, Lay's, Duracell, Domino's Pizza, Quizno's, Taco Bell, Sprint, Jack-in-the-Box
Licensed songs: Ford, Chevrolet, Hyundai, KFC, Visa, Nissan, Progressive, Buick, Cingular, Honda, Toyota, Blockbuster Video
Background music: AOL, Neulasta, TurboTax, Subway, Gatorade, WebMD, Victoria's Secret, Johnson's moisturizer, Wal-Mart, 21st Century Insurance, H&R Block, Ikea, Rolaids
No music: Geico, Volkswagen, Allstate and a tsunami relief ad

In later channel surfing, I also came across pure jingle jingling for Chili's (or does the Globe not want their baby back ribs?), Applebee's, Old Navy, Sears, Always tampons, Maybelline, a local furniture store and several jingles for the local FOX station's news and morning programs.

So Joan, perhaps you should rethink that whole the-jingle-is-dead-theory. I'm just saying. It's worth another look. Or listen.