History Main / RepurposedPopSong

* Adverts for Philips electronics have used Music/TheBeatles' "Getting Better" with another BrokenAesop (the next line is "can't get much worse").

* It seems to be a "Perfect Day" to go to a Beaches report for a vacation (the song in question was performed by Hoku for the ''LegallyBlonde'' soundtrack; the song in the commercial is a cover)...

* Toyato used the song "Bargain" by TheWho - emphasising the lines "I call that a bargain / the best I ever had." It's actually a song about how love is better than material possessions.

** And in Australia, used as the advertising jingle for The Good Guys ("come in and see the / good good good / guuuuuys!") The Good Guys apparently proved, if you stick with the same product (or in this case, store) specific lyrics for long enough, it will eventually work.

* KFC used a rewritten version of Music/TheMonkees' "Daydream Believer" in a commercial that aired in Malaysia in the 90s. The commercial also featured a pair of kids bickering over whether {{Batman}} or {{Superman}} is superior (KFC secured the merchandising license for the entire Warner Bros character catalog back then, so of course they're smug about it).

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H41MkG23Jww This]] "exclusive cut" of the 2013 Super Bowl commercial for "M&M's" has Red sing Meat Loaf's "I Would Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)".

* A commercial for electronic Monopoly used the Jessie James song "Price Tag", completely bastardizing it's main theme by changing the lyrics from "It's not about the money money money" to [[CompletelyMissingThePoint "It's ''all'' about the money money money]]."

* The ending theme of the first season of ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'' [[WastedSong (when the station actually played it)]] was a snippet of a Music/{{Wheatus}} song credited as "Jackie Chan's The Man". In truth, the song is nothing more than relevant lyrics written over their earlier song "Punk Ass Bitch".

** The song was also used with rewritten lyrics by Courtesy Dealers, changing the lyrics to "If you need a car/or a truck or van/Who ya gonna call?/Go Courtesy!" Ditto for Appleway Motors, cutting more lyrics and changing the rhythm. Also, if you're from South Florida, Maroone Used Car Dealers.

** Bizarrely, it was also sung by children's TV character ''BobTheBuilder'', obviously with different lyrics.

* In 2006 Garnier Fructis began using "Diamonds and Guns" by the Transplants in their ads. Because a song with the lyrics "Heroin, heroin, its all gone, Smoked it all up, and now you got none" immediately makes one think "shampoo!"

** From Website/TheOnion: "[[http://www.theonion.com/content/node/38780 Song About Heroin Used To Advertise Bank]]"

** Parodied by TheOnion in the article [[http://www.theonion.com/content/node/38780 'song about heroin used to advertise bank'.]]

* "Lust for Life" by [[Music/TheStooges Iggy Pop]] is a rather harsh, cynical song about drug abuse and selling ones' soul to the music industry. So naturally, it's been used as a jingle by everything from cruise lines to banks. Do the advertisers even ''listen'' to these songs before using them?

* The Dandy Warhol's song ''Bohemian Like You'' was used for a Pontiac car commercial. The first line makes sense, "You got a great car", but fans of the group were singing the next line, "yeah, what's wrong with it today".
* For years, Chevrolet used Bob Seger's "Like A Rock" for its line of trucks. It recently switched to ridiculously {{Eagleland}}-ish commercials with John Mellencamp's "Our Country" (despite Mellencamp's criticism of Seger for "selling out"). And, after years of it seeming a natural fit, Chevy has picked up "American Pie" -- or part of the chorus, at least -- for its car ads. Something about that Chevy at the levee...

* "Lust for Life" by Music/IggyPop is a rather harsh, cynical song about drug abuse and selling ones' soul to the music industry. So naturally, it's been used as a jingle by everything from cruise lines to banks. Do the advertisers even ''listen'' to these songs before using them?

** And in 2013, Party City used repurposed versions of the song for their 2013 ad campaigns, with lyrics changed to talk about what they had for what holiday or special occasion was coming up, and they even did a generic version to promote regular birthday party songs. It was first used around Saint Patrick's Day.

** And in 2013, Party City did one of these to this song. It was first used around Saint Patrick's Day and then it was used for Easter.

* Sir Mix-a-Lot did a jaw-dropping remake of "Baby Got Back"-- with a ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'' (!!) theme-- for Burger King in early 2009. The long version of the commercial is [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5X4TSbGreA here.]]

* You want ComicallyMissingThePoint: imagine Bob Dylan's counterculture anthem "The Times They Are A-Changin'" used to promote a ''bank''. The Bank Of Montreal thought it worked.

* The hook for OfMontreal's "Wraith Pinned to the Mist (and Other Games)" ''rewritten'' for an Outback Steakhouse commercial ("Let's get Outback tonight"). Convincingly, too -- it made it sound like their quirky indie hit had always been a commercial jingle. (Incidentally, this probably would be IsntItIronic, except that "Wraith Pinned to the Mist (and Other Games)", like all of Montreal's songs, is [[WordSaladLyrics completely]] [[MindScrew incomprehensible]].

* The hook for OfMontreal's "Wraith Pinned to the Mist (and Other Games)" ''rewritten'' for an Outback Steakhouse commercial ("Let's get Outback tonight"). Convincingly, too -- it made it sound like their quirky indie hit had always been a commercial jingle.

* Disney caused a controversy by using ThirdEyeBlind's "Semi-Charmed Life" in a trailer for ''The [[WinnieThePooh Tigger]] Movie'', despite not actually using the lyrics about drugs and sex.