Re: commercials

["L.Bird" <pkeets@hotmail.com>]

>I just think it comes down to artistic betrayal.  I am still a fan, 
>although somewhat disillusioned.  HOPE dies last, and I know that I will 
>lose my faith if Bob Dylan ever creeps out of my television set as the 
>subliminal enticement to buying a product.  Plastic society rules.

I think Bob Dylan had to give a little on his ideals.  A few years back he 
gave what was maybe the first interview of his career--he'd been famous for 
refusing, and then suddenly he's available.  The interviewer asked why, and 
Bob said it came down to being forgotten, that if he was going to continue 
as a musician, he would have to get out there and sell some music.  We 
haven't heard his songs in a commercial yet, but there is a little bit of 
discrete promotion going on--agianst his purist ideals or not.

I don't know that The Who music in commercial ads serves to capture a new 
audience.  What it would seem to do is remind people that The Who music is 
there on the shelves and available for purchase.  Maybe now and then a sharp 
ad like the Maxima commercial might prompt someone to ask what music that 
is, but generally not.  In most of the ads, if you don't recognize the 
music, then it doesn't mean anything one way or the other--it's just more 
background.

For some people the music does still carry that anthemic, socially conscious 
meaning, but I'd say they're in a minority these days.  Most people take it 
as a matter of course that musicians sell their music.  Folks in between 
might have some threshold where they'll be preturbed when they hear too much 
of it.  Letting out a few ads IS a way to do a market survey to see how 
they're received--like what proportion of the fans are annoyed by how much 
of the advertizing.  There will be a level of saturation, though, beyond 
where the msuic gets old and starts to cloy.

All in all, I'd say there are better ways to promote The Who than with ads.  
They have an excellent reputation for integrity so far, and I'd want to see 
it stay that way.


keets





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