I write in memory of the jingle. May-be I’m just getting old, but in
some tribes, old people are listened to.
In the golden past, happiness was a cigar called Hamlet, beanz meant
Heinz and Australians didn’t give a XXXX for anything else. Now,
however, all we seem to have is nice art direction, sumptuous images and
wacky special effects.
Where are the repeatable soundbites, the memorable slogans, the timeless
straplines? Where is the ‘Double Diamond works wonders’ of the 90s? The
creative mind behind ‘If you like a lot of chocolate...’ or ‘You can be
sure of Shell’ or ‘Heineken refreshes the parts’ surely can’t have
shrivelled up and died?
No-one can read those lines without a warm glow. They all became part of
advertising culture and even established themselves in the vernacular of
the nation.
OK, so it takes time to establish a slogan or jingle in the minds of the
Great Unwashed. Dave Trott didn’t lodge ‘Hello, Tosh, got a Toshiba?’ in
the collective brain of the man in the street overnight, neither did
Salman Rushdie’s ‘Naughty but nice’ become an instant hit with Joe
Public. Time, repetition, duration of campaign and chunky media spend
all contributed to the fact that they are remembered today.
But what are we going to leave our children? What will consumers in the
year 2020 remember from the advertising of the 90s? The special effects
in the Vauxhall Vectra spot? Tony Kaye’s ball-bearings for Dunlop?
‘Tickle it, you wrigglers’ from Foster’s?
I think not. We’re in danger of bequeathing Ferrero Rocher’s
‘ambassador’s party’ and the distressing Direct Line jingle to
posterity. Oh, and BT’s ‘It’s good to talk’. Scary.
Send your rants to Belinda Archer, Campaign, 174 Hammersmith Road,
London W6 7JP
