Somebody just brought THIS to my attention.

Don't they listen? Don't they ever listen past the first three words? Do they have the faintest idea of the apocalypse they are inciting on behalf of the sporting community?

AND when somebody said they'd used this I suggested as a joke that they've probably removed a horridly a-rhythmic number of lines to make the end fit the 1 min mark and they only f****** have, as well...

UGH.

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Anto mo Ninja, Watashi mo Ninja

Don't see what's wrong with it, apart fom Strummer wouldn't have authorised it if he was alive.

Works and works well. And there's nothing wrong with the symmetry, rhythms or use of the edit. Yes, it's edited, but it's done with musical sense.

Well, the edit could have been worse, for sure - I suppose that one is a matter of taste. I find it really grating, though. Those two missing beats from "you've got a friend" in that RAC advert used to drive me up the wall!

You have to admit, it is a song about London descending into an apocalyptic mayhem of rioting and nuclear disaster and about fearlessly accepting a complete obliteration of everything it stands for... which is at best grist to the mill for Have I Got News For You.

I also live not far from a forestry plantation part funded in memorial to Joe Strummer and his desire to offset carbon emissions, which just adds another layer of irritation to the whole thing.

I can live with Johnny Rotten selling margarine - strikes me he was always a muppet - but not the Clash. They actually knew what they were talking about.

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Anto mo Ninja, Watashi mo Ninja

Quote narcoman:

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apart fom Strummer wouldn't have authorised it if he was alive.

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Mick Jones presumably has though. Also, in their defence, 'London Calling' was originally a BBC call sign.

Personally, I think it's about as appropriate as using Springsteen's Born in the USA as a campaign song...

DM

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Not much in life worth running for. Or from.

Quote molecular:

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I can live with Johnny Rotten selling margarine - strikes me he was always a muppet - but not the Clash. They actually knew what they were talking about.

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Jones never did. He just wanted to be " keef". As I say, if Strummer was alive it wouldn't have been cleared.

Quote molecular:

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You have to admit, it is a song about London descending into an apocalyptic mayhem of rioting and nuclear disaster and about fearlessly accepting a complete obliteration of everything it stands for... which is at best grist to the mill for Have I Got News For You.

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I'm sure David Icke will be a long shortly to explain all about Illuminati Mind Control and what They want you to do...

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~~~ A weasel hath not such a deal of spleen as you are tossed with! www.feline1.co.uk ~~~

just confirms what we all knew anyway.

1. Ad agencies are looking for something 'cool'.
2. It mentions London in the title.
3. Nothing else matters. At all.
4. They would probably have spent more on the casting director's personal assistant than they ever would have on licensing music from The Clash.
5. They would probably have spent more money on post it notes and Lattes than they ever would spend on a music editor to chop the track up in a musically co-hearant way.
6. I prefer Virgin Atlantic.
7. err.
8. That's it.

Sod all this......I am more concerned with NONSENSE

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My head hurts!

Often, I'm asked to edit songs in a similar way. Some of the agency creatives I work with will choose a track for it's direct out of context meaning and ignore it's lyrical context and value. Opinions are somewhat subjective on this but if it ultimately results in negative press for the advertiser then I suppose you can't argue. Thing is it rarely does. 'Little boxes' on the O2 ad is another example of a track being totally out of context. The contextual meaning of many songs can get diluted at new generations of consumers are placed in the firing line of the advertisers. I find this an interesting subject and would like to find more examples of 'out of context' music in advertising. I'm sure most artists stand by their morals until they see the sync fee and PRS potential.

Quote Chaparazzi:

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I find this an interesting subject and would like to find more examples of 'out of context' music in advertising.

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well just look at the way the goalpost have changed over the decades - remember the 70's and frys turkish delight and how that had some kind of exotic ethnic vibe??

fast forward to present day and what have we got advertising chocolate? a gimp in a monkey suit playing along to phil colins thats what

how times have changed eh? and they call it progess

Quote Paul Farrer:

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5. They would probably have spent more money on post it notes and Lattes than they ever would spend on a music editor to chop the track up in a musically co-hearant way.

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What's not coherent about the edit? Sacrilege yes, musically incoherent?

Most people only know two words in the song anyway, and they are the two key ones that matter to the ad men on terms of delivering their message.

In general the edits sound OK, but if you listen closely you can hear where they have chopped stuff off.

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Madman_Greg

im guessing you guys have never watched TV or films before

I laughed like a drain when I first saw it! BA have indeed used an apocalyptic song to promote the part they feel they will play in the London Olympics. Someone mentioned this already but it crossed my mind too: Its even worse than Ronald Reagan using the conviction Democrat Bruce Springsteen's 'Born In the USA' as a Republican campaign song (a song which, like 'London Calling' sounds very up beat and patriotic but is actually about the shame felt by many Americans post Vietnam and the last years of the Cold War). I also realise that 99.9999% of people who see the ad wont care even if they suss the faux pass. But I also found some of the the visual content disturbing: Specifically the number of jet air liners that BA had apparently had to crash land in central London. The imagery of 'engines stopping running' and airplanes falling out of the sky scored a home run with me first time I saw it pop across the screen and, whilst it seems to fit nicely with Joe Strummer's original lyric it presumably falls a long way short of BA's marketing aspirations (not to mention the runways at Heathrow). Put the two together, I suppose you be kind and conclude its deliberate, in the same way that soap powder ads are supposed to be annoying, but a less kind interpretation would be that they had entirely failed to think about the combined impact properly at all. Let's hope nobody drowns during the swimming or off one of the Thames Clipper commuter boats during the event! I can't defend this obviously very expensive ad. I agree with monecular: Fail.

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Strictly project and just for fun

Quote Frisonic:

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but a less kind interpretation would be that they had entirely failed to think about the combined impact properly at all.

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I think you offer the UK public at large a measure of intellect which they may not live up to.

The track has been used in synch before; usually as some rallying call even though that was not the writers intent. As with so many other cases, works often transcend the artists message. Witness how many love songs are actually often about very different things yet the individual reads their own message. So yes, the song has little connection with lauding London as the place to be but that in itself is a "fail". A failure to understand that works have a life way beyond that of the author.

Further, It can only really be a "fail" if that's how the majority see it. Little bit like arguing with a ten year old that Katy Perry is crap. We all know she is - but the minority is the one left with egg on its face whilst the rest laugh thinking how stupid we are for being so smug. Unles, of course, some mighty tabloid decides to poke fun .... now, I wonder..... who do I know....?..

Talking about advertising means the advert has worked.

According to Wiki, Strummer let Jaguar use it in 2002.

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http://soundcloud.com/richie-royale
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Quote molecular:

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I can live with Johnny Rotten selling margarine - strikes me he was always a muppet

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My understanding is that John Lydon was paid £250k for his first Country Life campaign, which he used pretty much all of to fund PIL's return to touring in the noughties with an 11 date tour of the UK and near Europe. It was such a success they have ever since been making excellent money playing to packed houses everywhere from Israel to Kazakhstan (to 80,000 including Putin and Medvedev). You can think what you like about Mr Lydon but his muppetry got him to a position where he was able to command a fee of that magnitude 40 years after everybody thought he'd had his 15 minutes. And he used it to buy himself and his friends another 15 minutes that seems to have now lapsed into at least 45... Unlike BA's recent offering, whoever made those Country Life ads understood irony (waving Union Flag at Queen/reducing rural idyl to a lousy lifestyle choice whilst wearing a country suit* etc.). It being a dairy product not withstanding, I thought they milked Mr Lydon beautifully.

* Both John Lydon and the late Joe Strummers used to regularly attend a certain barn at a dairy and cider farm on the Somerset Levels for heavy scrumpy sessions (actually I think there was more than just scrumpy involved - the ash trays were always very full anyway). So to be fair he has a better insight into the lifestyle of a dairy farmer than many people might realise).

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Strictly project and just for fun

Quote narcoman:

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im guessing you guys have never watched TV or films before

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No it just takes a VERY long time for me to get annoyed enough to post something here! Straw that broke the camel's back I guess

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Anto mo Ninja, Watashi mo Ninja

Quote Frisonic:

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... to be fair he has a better insight into the lifestyle of a dairy farmer than many people might realise

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All great, although I suspect Anarchism is a very bad business model for an industry dependent on animals.

Also, while I agree that the ad campaign turned the posh country life ideal into a spoof very successfully, it also did the same for the sex pistols (not for the first time...). They have long become one with their own harmless cartoon-ish send-ups, and strike about as much fear into the establishment as a Jamie Oliver Sainsbury's advert.

For whatever reason, this hasn't happened with the Clash, despite previous ad shenanigans, and I would have it stay that way if I could.

Essentially it comes down to people like BA using a song like London to jump on the Olympic "Let's all celebrate britishness" bandwagon, by trying to hi-jack quite a disturbing song about everything that is wrong with Britain. So, Narco - you might be ok with the technical quality of the editing and the fact that tone "works", but maybe the word for it is artless. The whole thing is painfully, painfully crap. I know it's advertising and it's supposed to be painfully crap, but it's smug as well, because in this instance it doesn't know it's crap, it thinks it's edgy and London-y.

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Anto mo Ninja, Watashi mo Ninja

Quote Frisonic:

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My understanding is that John Lydon was paid £250k for his first Country Life campaign, which he used pretty much all of to fund PIL's return to touring in the noughties with an 11 date tour of the UK and near Europe. It was such a success they have ever since been making excellent money playing to packed houses everywhere from Israel to Kazakhstan (to 80,000 including Putin and Medvedev). You can think what you like about Mr Lydon but his muppetry got him to a position where he was able to command a fee of that magnitude 40 years after everybody thought he'd had his 15 minutes.

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15 minutes was plenty.

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Anto mo Ninja, Watashi mo Ninja

Quote narcoman:

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Quote Frisonic:

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but a less kind interpretation would be that they had entirely failed to think about the combined impact properly at all.

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I think you offer the UK public at large a measure of intellect which they may not live up to.

The track has been used in synch before; usually as some rallying call even though that was not the writers intent. As with so many other cases, works often transcend the artists message. Witness how many love songs are actually often about very different things yet the individual reads their own message. So yes, the song has little connection with lauding London as the place to be but that in itself is a "fail". A failure to understand that works have a life way beyond that of the author.

Further, It can only really be a "fail" if that's how the majority see it. Little bit like arguing with a ten year old that Katy Perry is crap. We all know she is - but the minority is the one left with egg on its face whilst the rest laugh thinking how stupid we are for being so smug. Unles, of course, some mighty tabloid decides to poke fun .... now, I wonder..... who do I know....?..

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I agree with all of that except those of us who have a vague understanding of the industry expect advertising creatives to operate at a higher level. Especially ones with such huge budgets (that was not a cheap ad). I'm someone who believes advertising is an art form. I'd rather watch a brilliantly constructed 30 seconds of advertisement than an hour and a half of most films. They're selling to the great unwashed, yes, but at the top of their game they are doing it at levels of sophistication the great unwashed could never even conceive. As you very well know! And to be fair the apocalyptic message in 'London Calling' is not exactly subliminal.

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Strictly project and just for fun

Quote Frisonic:

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I'm someone who believes advertising is an art form.

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then u do the spotty little self absorbed urchins way too much credit.

Advertising, in general - is selling junk, to people that don't need it. that's all.

The track does not gel with the spot, actually .. something orchestral (also British, if you like) would have worked better.. although, talking points, are always good.

But if a flailing BA can ingratiate themselves with the wide demographic (both today's and yesterday's and the day before's youth) who have some affinity with this music, they would much rather just use this track - and feel cool / loved for a minute ..

The ad' doesn't even directly sell anything as such - it's just a brand builder .. and that's why they have hijacked (no pun intended) the track..

I don't think it's really going to make any difference on whether there is an apocalypse or not though .. so I wouldn't get too worked up about that..

It's just an ad' which is a bit sickening because of the way the sound track has been used .. the sound track doesn't even work with the corporate careful sanitized images and brand tbh .. but that's not the point .. it's cheap (not monetarily - creatively) ingratiation ..

Apocalypse will either go ahead or not, either way.

Quote blue manga:

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The ad' doesn't even directly sell anything as such - it's just a brand builder ..

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It is working as it is being talked about. The best way to boycott adverts is to not talk about them, no matter how annoying they may be.

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http://soundcloud.com/richie-royale
http://www.mixcrate.com/richieroyale

Quote blue manga:

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.. although, talking points, are always good.

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Quote blue manga:

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Advertising, in general - is selling junk, to people that don't need it. that's all.

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That's the economy! Including much of the music industry although their consumer base have got slightly out of the habit of buying the product. Advertising is merely one of the means by which people go about doing the selling. BTW I didn't say all advertising was art, just that it can be and the best of it is.

You're right about this ad being strictly about brand building. I think it even goes so far as to suggest to its British audience that they should stay home and support Team GB during the Olympics rather than get on a BA plane? But for me, because I responded to the misuse of 'London Calling' as I did, the associations with the brand are negative. I was left feeling "Virgin wouldn't have made that mistake, crass as their own advertising usually is". So the impact on me has been to feel Virgin Atlantic are a better experience (and more British if you like - I couldn't care less about sovereignty myself) than BA.

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Strictly project and just for fun

Quote narcoman:

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Quote molecular:

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I can live with Johnny Rotten selling margarine - strikes me he was always a muppet - but not the Clash. They actually knew what they were talking about.

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Jones never did. He just wanted to be " keef". As I say, if Strummer was alive it wouldn't have been cleared.

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Dunno about Keef, from what I remember from "The Last Gang in Town" Mick wanted to be Ian Hunter...

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"Playing the right notes, but not neccesarily in the right order"

I have to say I did pass comment on this to the wife the other night, nowt is sacred. Historically most forms of counter culture are absorbed and regurgitated in a benign / twisted form. A bit of respect is in order towards peoples original intention I think in an ideal world. Thats not a world we live in right now.

I just wonder how many human beings eye sight could be saved with £9,000,000,000.00, yes thats 9 thousand million. Not to mention the impact on their relatives whom many will be supporting.
It puts things in perspective for me. I will not be watching the opening ceremony.

These people know the details.. http://www.sightsavers.org/about_us/default.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDW_Hj2K0wo

Hammer. Nail. Head.

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Not much in life worth running for. Or from.

Quote Dynamic Mike:

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDW_Hj2K0wo

Hammer. Nail. Head.

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Breaking news: the advertising world is not a place of idealism or moral/creative sanctity.

I thought it was stating the obvious but unless it's for a band's album, adverts are never about the music used in them. They cut, copy & paste the music until it's twisted into a soundscape that fits the brand, not the other way around - even if it takes the original meaning of a song and completely goes against the meaning/ideals of its creators.

And isn't the fact that it's been edited down to fit the timing of a commercial kind of what you'd expect from any ad made during the last, I dunno, 10-15 years? If you want to hear the original unedited song, I doubt whether a 60 second commercial is the place to look.

Music in this context is like a font or a colour scheme; just a tone and a texture. In the case of using popular songs it almost always annoys the hell out of 'true' fans. So what. No, nothing is sacred and why should it be? It's just a brand trying to sell you something - if you're too clever, worthy or liable to put sacred cows on pedestals, just ignore it, something will be along shortly more suitable for your demographic...

What is team GB? 18 English Men and good?...em what happened to Scotland, Ireland and Wales? As usual, no talent, be it music or football.

Quote JimPal:

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advertising world is not a place of idealism or moral/creative sanctity.

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Tru.. it is home to the most vacuous self serving, self absorbed little scumbags on earth ..

Quote JimPal:

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Music in this context is like a font or a colour scheme; just a tone and a texture.

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Untrue. This is another case (although there are far far worse cases) of lazy advertising .. where the music is responsible for much more than the visuals or the ad concept itself ..

In this case - it's just a load of garbage which sits (uncomfortably) on top of a great song (and a great period in British music history)

Quote JimPal:

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Music in this context is like a font or a colour scheme; just a tone and a texture.

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Untrue. This is another case (although there are far far worse cases) of lazy advertising .. where the music is responsible for much more than the visuals or the ad concept itself ..

In this case - it's just a load of garbage which sits (uncomfortably) on top of a great song (and a great period in British music history)

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Agreed - I never said it was a good choice of tone/texture

It is a lazy choice to try and create some ridiculous shorthand message of corporate/middle England national pride. I just don't see the point of getting up in arms about it - it's not the first time and won't be the last that the man tries to buy into a culture that's diametrically opposed to him.

To all who have posted, what music would you have chosen for the advert?

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http://soundcloud.com/richie-royale
http://www.mixcrate.com/richieroyale

I'd like to teach the world to sing...?

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Not much in life worth running for. Or from.

It's only BA who could give you a relevant answer and they already have, but personally I would like a nice bit of Anal Beard.

Quote Richie Royale:

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To all who have posted, what music would you have chosen for the advert?

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I've already said .. something orchestral .. something British .. something with an air of class .. and is more harmonious with the brand and visuals .. would need further research though..
- and the client would probably reject it in favour of this, believing it actually makes *them cool.

However .. despite it being lazy advertising, and the track and ethos of the track being clearly at odds with both the brand and the visuals (and its a stupid frikkin ad anyway) - clearly it does work. If it sticks a bone in your throat enough for you to talk about it, it's worked.. I guess ..

I guess this would be a good forum choice

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Madman_Greg

Quote blue manga:

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Quote Richie Royale:

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To all who have posted, what music would you have chosen for the advert?

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I've already said .. something orchestral .. something British .. something with an air of class .. and is more harmonious with the brand and visuals ..

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Like Lakmé's 'Flower Duet'?

I guess they wanted something outside of their previous music style.

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http://soundcloud.com/richie-royale
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Quote Madman_Greg:

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I guess this would be a good forum choice

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http://www.mixcrate.com/richieroyale