Ad jingles are a cornerstone of the advertising business and probably one of the oldest tools in the ad man’s tool box (right next to the Gin).  Radio spots really love them because it makes the commercial as memorable as the pop trash that bookends their airtime, but I’m here to tell ya, it ain’t always right to use them…

1-800-Get Slim Radio Spot – New Year

Remember the movie Demolition Man with Stallone and Sandra Bullock when she still looked cute in skin tight uniforms?  I like that movie… oh wait, I had a point there.  Right, because in that movie they had this shtick where they had a whole station full of jingles from old radio spots.  They rode around in their little car singing the Oscar Myer Wiener song and we all had a good laugh.

Do you think if that movie came out today they would use this little ditty from 1-800-Get-Slim?  Of course not, because IT’S A FRICKIN’ STUPID IDEA TO HAVE A JINGLE IN AN AD ABOUT WEIGHT LOSS SURGERY!

Look, I know a few people who have had this procedure (hell, I’ve had a few people tell me I need to get this procedure) and they’re all very happy now that they can see their genitals when they shower.  However, this ad isn’t to these people, it’s to the people who need to see their genitals in the shower and let me tell you, those people are not jolly, no matter what the songs say about them.

Ads like this are born from purely bad ideas that somehow aren’t killed before they see the light of day.  Just imagine that someone wrote the tag line, “Let your new life begin, call 1-800-Get-Slim” and noticed it rhymed and they jokingly sang it to get a giggle out of the cute chick in accounting.  That’s where the idea should have died.  Unfortunately, it got passed around until upper management heard it and thought it was a great idea and before the copywriter could say, “but sir” it was on the air, ruining my morning.

Remind me to send them something nice… like a basket of muffins.

J.