Not that bad of a
phenomenon,
IMHO, and here's
why I think that :
everything2 sets mode : +soapbox discofever
The main reason why these songs placed inside of telly adverts is distasteful is because you don't want to load up a Stones album and immediately associate 'Start Me Up' with Windows 95. So, to keep the music seperate in your head from the product, use that 'mute' button on your remote with extreme prejudice, or better yet, just leave the damned box off for a bit. Thus, seperation of song and product.
Once this is done, I personally think it's easy to enjoy a good song even after a commercial has saturated the bandwidth with it. The music is made to make you feel a certain way (soothed, bouncy, rebellious) and the commercials leverage the music to extend that feeling to the product. But that doesn't mean that you can't enjoy the feeling of the music later. Commercials also use many visual artistic tricks to do the same function, and I've never seen anyone complain that their enjoyment of a Vermeer or a Caravaggio sullied because directors have knowingly copied the lighting styles of those two Old Masters.
Although I still cringe a bit when I hear 'What Do I Get' played on a car commercial.
discofever has quit everything2 (Ping timeout)