Get your juices going is a new pop song by Starburst. Never heard of Starburst? Don't be too concerned - with any luck, this song will be their first and last foray into popular music.

Starburst are a creation of the confectionary company Mars Australia, and advertising agency D'Arcy. Oh, and in case it's not blindingly obvious by now, Mars are the owners of the confectionary brand, Starburst.

Yes, this song is nothing more than a huge advertisement for their products - and how subtle they have been! And clever - who would have thought of substituting the words 'Aren't you' with 'Orange'? And they get around the messy problem of having to try and rhyme it with another line!


Silence is beyond you
I get my pawpaw's on you
You ain't seen nothing yet
Orange you glad we met?


There has been a measure of outcry over the song's release, with some people upset over the fact that although it is nothing more than a marketing campaign, there is no acknowledgement of this fact with the song's release. As far as I can see, although this fact isn't explicitely stated, it's pretty obvious. The single features the same logo that is used on Starburst packaging, in the single dancers attired in the colours of Starburst dance over a fruit covered floor. The song itself features the all of the fruit flavours that Starburst manufacture. Mars, and D'Arcy haven't been hiding the fact that they are the creators of this song - in fact, there is a planned follow up campaign in the near future - 'You've bought the song, now buy Starburst!'


Boy you should be knowing (i'm the one, i'm the one)
I'll get your juices going


Another critiscism has come from organisations involved in promoting good nutrition. Peter Wilson, the president of the Dietitian's Association of Australia, has stated that the campaign is "manipulative and misleading". This organisation a member of the Coalition on Advertising Food to Children, who are part of a push to ban the advertising of junk food during television programming aimed at children.

Apart from the argueably deceptive nature of this song, there is also the factor of its fairly suggestive lyrical content. It's fairly obvious that this song is targeted at the largest consumers of confectionary like Starburst - children. Lines such as...


The sweetest fruit is low
Ready for the taking
Young and firm and full
With the juice that we'll be making


...can certainly be read in a couple of different ways. It could probably be argued that much of today's music aimed at kids is far less innocent than it used to be. This song seems to thrive on double entendres though.

So is this something we'll be seeing more of in the future? A bold new form of marketing, ripe for the picking? ok, ok...that was just poor! Personally, I hope not, but I guess it depends on the success of this campaign. I can imagine that competing agencies would be looking at the success of this with interest, and imagining the possiblilties when you are able to take music away from the realm of the corny 30 second jingle. So we wait and see. This song debuted at 28 on the charts - I'm sure its creators would see this as a great result.

At least the people involved with actually singing this song had the good sense to keep their identities hidden.






Lyrics for this song were nowhere to be found....so I endured the torture of listening to lines over and over, so that you wouldn't ever have to!

Sources:

http://www.smh.com.au/text/articles/2002/09/17/1032054820110.htm
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,5119212%255E421,00.html
Half an hour of my life listening to this song, that I'll never be able to recover




CST Approved

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