Does this face look familiar? Did you suddenly start to hear music and the words, "my bologna has a first name..." running through your head? Well, I bet you hear it now.
It doesn't take a doctor to understand the effects that music has on memory and the human brain. We've all experienced it firsthand - sometimes to the level of annoyance - when those entertaining jingles just won't stop playing over and over in your head.
Still, advances in brain scans have shown researchers precisely how this works. A recent study showed the medial pre-frontal cortex as a music-processing region which can activate associated mental images. So that, when you hear music, your brain starts to play the images it associates with the tune.
No wonder advertisers are so fond of music. Music and lyrics can make a commercial, product or brand not only memorable, but something sharable. We delight in sharing a common memory and the nostalgic feelings they invoke. Want to prove it? Just start singing that bologna song, and see how long it takes for others to join in. For many Americans, jingles are the hymns of our society.
Today, national advertisers are more likely to license a popular song that viewers are already familiar with. But it's a testament to the power and pleasure of a well written and executed jingle, that many classics are still used 30 and 40 years after they first aired.
Here, in no particular order, are some my favorite jingles in commercial history. If you can't remember them, just click the link to watch the YouTube video. But be warned, these jingles have a way of sticking in your head. And I have to admit, I wouldn't have it any other way.
Who can forget Coca Cola's anthem to togetherness? More than a touchy-feely ditty, this song expressed the strategic concept of Coke as a drink we share with those we love and with the peoples of the entire world. Heavy.
Who didn't want this toy after hearing this song? Talk about powerful, this song got millions of children to ask their parents to buy them a spring. A spring! Once down the stairs and it became a tangled mess. Truth is, that song is more entertaining than the toy.
Now, most of us don't write the word bologna very often, but darn few of us would even have a chance of spelling it correctly without this jingle. Between this and the Oscar Meyer wiener song, they had all of America sining about ground up animal bits.
This song celebrates the individuality of the drinker. In a world battle scarred by the cola wars, the idea of drinking (and being) something different was really worth singing about.
Though this sandwich premiered in McDonald's menus in 1968, it wasn't until 1975 that every man, woman and child could sing its list of ingredients. Ah, you're singing it now, aren't you? Aren't you!
Now this jingle's not as famous as many of the others on this list, but it's a favorite jingle (and candy) at Jones Advertising, and we enjoy both regularly.
I love this jingle not just for it's singability, but for the clever way the marketing team took a inconsequential thing about the product (it doesn't sink!) and turned it into a way to describe the flavor and health benefits.
What can you say about spearmint gum? Not much. But pretend it has double the flavor (compared to...?), add some attractive twins and you've got a campaign that makes a product really stand out. After all, can you name another spearmint gum?
This jingle not only had all of America singing along, we all got up to dance with it too. If they'd played this right, Big Fig could have had his own show like the California Raisins. Eh, maybe we're better off. Still, I have to admit I have a sudden craving for a Fig Newton.
I know there's lots of other great TV commercial jingles out there. From Mentos (Do-do-do-do Do-WAH!), to "Let Noxima Cream Your Face," I bet each of you has a favorite. Share yours with me and the other readers in the comments section below.
