In the vein of the earlier earworm post I have a more important question\u2026 Is there anything more insidious than that very special brand of commercial that finds a nook and simply won\u2019t leave your head for hours or days after you hear it? United Furniture Warehouse has even had campaigns based around singing the jingle. I do try hard to not let advertising impact my buying decisions, but I can\u2019t say it doesn\u2019t affect me.
\nFor me growing up a lot of these jingles were seen on the slightly shitty American stations we\u2019d get piped in from random American cities. Back before Winnipeg had NBC and CBS via Minneapolis we had Michigan stations (until people complained that the news from there was too violent.) Once we got Fox our stations came first from Toledo and now from Rochester NY.<\/p>\n
One of my all time favorites was the dog jingle for a car dealership. It featured an animated dog and cowboy and the following lines:
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cHey dawg, cmon dawg\u2026 Me an\u2019 dawg want you to come on down to Telegraph Road, RIGHT NOW, get a good deal\u201d \u201cWOOF\u201d<\/p>\n
It has probably been 15-20 years since I\u2019ve seen that jingle, but at least 3 of my friends can still sing it word for word.<\/p>\n
Sometimes it\u2019s not even a musical jingle just a specific shouting pattern. A perfect example of this is Jim \u201cThe Hammer\u201d Shapiro a Lawyer from upstate New York who shouted at the top of his lungs and gave himself various other nicknames including the “meanest SOB in town” as he tried to solicit injury cases. \u00a0He was pretty much the epitome of the american lawyer stereotype.
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m Jim \u201cTHE HAMMER\u201d Shapiro and I sue drunks, call 1-800-546-7777\u201d<\/p>\n