Cognitive Dissonance hurts my head.

[cyrano]

There has to be a point at which irony disintegrates, leaving a radioactive spray of heavy metal floating in the air for hundreds of years.

The new iPod commercials (New device desirable. Old device undesirable.) proudly proclaim the nifty new feature of the latest technology product. And in the background is a song by Miss Li called "Bourgeois Shangri-La" which is about--wait for it--being surrounded by a consumer culture and trapped in social expectations and the desire to escape it. Kind of a Pleasant Valley iSunday.

If I wrote this into one of my stories, people would complain that I was over the top.

Comments

[cerulean-me.livejournal.com]

I know, right??? That commercial just makes me laugh my ass off every time I hear it!!

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

I got a feeling that I don't belong...

[cerulean-me.livejournal.com]

Just like everyone else... ;-)

[darth-snarky.livejournal.com]

I've been convinced for the past several years that we're all living in a dystopic novel. This just adds more support for that theory.

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

I've seen your icon around, but it never fails to make me giggle. :) May I steal it?

[darth-snarky.livejournal.com]

Sure, go ahead. I think I may have stolen it from somewhere myself.

[yukonsally]

Apple isn't happy that I'm using my perfectly functional, gifted first generation nano? How will I cope with such disappointment?

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

The "Ad Report Card" columnist on Slate had a contest a while back for people to submit the most inappropriate commercial soundtracks, inspired by an ad touting the wonders of coal that used Sixteen Tons, a song about the near-slavelike exploitation of coal miners ("You load sixteen tons, what do you get/Another day older and deeper in debt/Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go/I owe my soul to the company store...")

Some other standouts: An ad for Levi's Jeans to "Born In The USA" (these jeans were sent to Vietnam to kill the yellow man!); a Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines spot using Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life" (because nothing says "helluva vacation" than shooting up junk); and the Beatles' "Taxman" for H&R Block (the jokes sort of just write themselves at that point...)

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

The Lust for Life ad was the one that really started me paying attention to this stuff. I think it was T-Mobile that used "Talk Talk" and... maybe Nissan who was using "Cars".

[pusifoot.livejournal.com]

UPS has ads where they use a song by the group Postal Service in the background.

I was the only person that found this hilarious.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

You kids and your music these days.

[katchoo-too.livejournal.com]

I don't remember the cell phone company, but I loved the ads with Meatloaf singing the beginning of Paradise by the Dashboard Lights.... I guess a cell phone contract could cause you to pray for the end of time to hurry up and arrive, cause if I have to spend another minute with you I don't think I will survive. :)