Five on FridaySaturday

(Link at left)
Jingle All the Way

1. Do you ever find yourself singing advertising jingles?

Unfortunately, yes. Usually ones from my childhood: cereal and fast-food are the killers.

2. What are your favorite jingles?

I think "favorite" and "jingles" may be close to mutually exclusive terms. They annoy the crap outta me, especially 30 years later. I mean really: "Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame-seed bun" "Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce, special orders don't upset us, all we ask is that you let us serve it your way. Have it your way, have it your way, have it your way, have it your way" "Blue stars, green clover" "Trix are for kids" "Plop-plop, fizz-fizz, oh what a relief it is" Not favorites, just stuck in the memory.
I do like the old Christmas Coca-Cola ad, though.

3. Which jingles do you hate to hear?

Anything sung by extraordinarily cute and adorable (and off-key) children or cartoon animals. And 90% of the others.

4. Why do you think jingles are so effective?

They operate on the level of those songs we learned as young children: short, rhyming and rhythmic, and incessantly repetitive (and repeated!).

5. Are jingles going the way of the dinosaur? Or do you think we're going to be singing them for the next 50 years?

I think as long as advertisers see the value in my response to #4, we'll have them on some products, especially those marketing to children. Either that, or more classic rock and pop songs will be sold to be used to sell products. I saw a (very funny, actually) ad today for Jeep (?) that used "Rock Me Gently" in a clever, or slightly insane, way. Watch for it.
This is a double-edged sword, however. In my case, any product that uses "Electric Avenue" or that damn Robert Palmer female robot song has effectively lost my dollar!