News

Would You Buy A Car From La Roux?

• 28th Sep 2010

Walking through Piccadilly Gardens in the centre of Manchester last week, I passed an interesting sight – a big stage, all decked out in branding and flanked by shiny cars. A little bit of digging revealed that La Roux would be playing an exclusive set on said stage to promote the new Nissan Juke automobile.

I’m not the biggest fan of the large haired faux-electro star and it was very tempting to dismissively brand her a ‘sell out’, but this whole setup got me thinking about the pros and cons of bands getting involved with commercial advertising.

Adverts and corporately sponsored gigs can undoubtedly be a fantastic way for bands to make themselves known to a wider audience. Florence + The Machine, Duffy and Fat Boy Slim amongst others can all attest to that, having seen their popularity increase massively after they were used in adverts.

That doesn’t stop many people scoffing at the suggestion of getting involved with advertisers, but it seems that even completely distancing yourself from the commercial machine can’t prevent you from being linked to advertising.

Take Sigur Ros for example. A critically acclaimed and well respected act, they are more than aware of the benefits of using their songs for TV shows but have always had a policy of refusing to use their songs to help sell anything. But that hasn’t stopped a whole host of advertisers recreating their sound for ads.

So much has this happened that without allowing a single song to be used for commercial gain their sound has become synonymous with adverts, something that they have humorously highlighted themselves in a recent blog.

The trouble with ad work (and a big reason some bands avoid it) is that ad appearances can easily alienate your existing fans. A loyal fanbase won’t always be pleased to have you selling them the latest soft drink or mobile phone. Anyone who has seen the new Walkers advert with ex-Commodore Lionel Richie will understand that. Seeing a legendary figure reduced to singing about crunchy snacks was a step too far for me.

That said, after watching the ad and subsequently bad mouthing poor Lionel for a week or so, a friend pointed out to me that I would never say a bad word about Gary Lineker, famous for plugging crisps for the past 15 years (and for playing football I believe).

And you know what, they were right. Do we react differently on seeing a musical act involved in advertising than we would any other celebrity, be they actor, sportsman or WAG? Perhaps we should accept that all artists need to get there music out through as many channels as possible and if advertising is one of them we should just let it be?

After all, I never raised an eyebrow back when Michael Winner was trying to sell me car insurance.

That said, I didn’t call up for a quote either.