Pete Seeger in a COMMERCIAL?????

How? This is still the only place this is being discussed , outside of a couple of groups on Yahoo.

 

well I for one find it shocking... its nice that some like hearing Pete Seeger on TV and want him to hawk big macs but the point is Pete would never have wanted that and I think you kind of should respect his wishes...at least for a generation...

moreover, if you are going to license his performance don't do it with something related to Walmart or tax preparation services....

 

Everytime someone goes on to JH's facebook page to leave a hate message, its essentially an advertisement. As it will show up on that users wall, which their network can then see.

I've heard it say "There's no such thing as bad publicity" and to a degree that's true. Studies show people shop and even vote based on name recognition alone.

 

Except that those messages are removed. People are reporting that as well.

 

Carly had the hit in 1971.Heintz picked it up in 1979 and ran with it for many years.Eight years after the hit.
Take cartoons,especially Warner Bros. Both Chuck Jones & Friz Freleng used lots of classical music,which was the introduction to many a baby boomer to Wagner and Mozart.I bet that 90% of the adult male population in the US cannot listen to Ride of the Valkeries and NOT hear Elmer Fudd singing:I killed the Wabbit!"Disney should be so lucky that all of Fantasia would render just one moment as memorable as the many in the seven minutes of What's Opera,Doc?
Locally,I can't go into a Wawa convenience store without thinking:"We do it just a little bit better-Wawa!",a jingle they have not used since the 1980s.
I think the opposite is true:lasting impressions are made from repeated impressions.It's the backbone of the glory days of Top 40 radio

 

Just ask Bill Cosby how he's tearing up the touring circuit nowadays.Not to mention the permanantly closed NBC deal and the 1985 Cosby show disappearing on cable(somehow I Spy continues).
Take the recent headlines of the Sony flick,The Interview.After it was finally decided to release the film to indi theaters and online,Sony has moved the DVD release up to Feb.15.All of the revenue this will generate will,at best, let Sony break even at the end of this debacle.A film costing $40 million, and R rated raunchy comedy,many of which have performed well in recent years, with a Christmas release,should have given them at least $120 in revenues by now,no matter how good or bad the film would have been reviewed by regular critic and audiences.Net result-all of that publicity worked against the film.

 

Someone may not "need" a tax service to fill out an EZ,but I suspect(and it is probably impossible to find out real numbers),many of the tax service places do lots of 1040 EZs. Getting them in the door is the ticket,which is why these spots are all over the airwaves now and at the end,but taper off in the middle.Why?Fear.Notice the big ACA uproar,Block was having special sessions to address the issue;it means nothing if one already has health care,but you would never know it by those ads.Then there is the dangling of "getting your billions" back when a savvy taxpayer would have adjusted their witholding money and had that money in their pocket a year ago.Add to that ,the overhanging cloud of filing on time,paying the right amount of tax,filling it out right,etc. that many a low income taxpayer carries in their head from Jan. to April.
Fear is the #1 motivator for sales.Years ago in a retail place I worked in,they just had to put up an end display of fire extinguishers and smoke alarms.Just walking by them did the trick.

 

Bill cosby is a good example of not all publicity being good... but when it comes out that you are a serial rapist, that's quite an extreme case. But you are right.

Right again with the interview. But i think sony and others in the movie industry are smart enough to lose the battle to win the war so to speak. Major motion pictures released directly to audience's homes is the future. The movie theater doesn't have the allure it used to. The film industry needs to change drastically, or it will die. This was a great opportunity for Sony to test the waters on direct to consumer home major motion picture release. I'm sure the execs at Sony would take that trade. But in short, yes you are right on both fronts.

 

I didn't realize that "Anticipation" was used as a commercial 8 years after it came out. It's all a blur....

 

The Cosby situation is indeed incredible as major allegations surfaced 10 years ago and were eventually settled via a civil suit.For those ten years he kept on performing.
As for films going directly to homes,the model shows that a $100 million+ cost picture cannot fly unless millions pony up the $12 bucks in advance of online sales.The Netflix model cannot support a Hobbit or Star Wars film.Especially Star Wars,where even the execs who distributed it didn't see the future.The film had to be out first and the audiences had to find it.That can't happen with the Netflix model.Sure,they can make some on small films and TV series,but tentpole films need the big bucks the first weekend to justify the upfront costs.

 

Maybe. Since the song they used was about death, my takeaway from the commercial was "Buy a VW and die". That's what I told all my friends.

Among people who wouldn't be caught dead in a WallyWorld, where most employees probably don't make enough to have to file taxes? All publicity is not good publicity.

 

Pete Seeger never cared about sales or money. He never kept track of sales and royalties(his management kept those things). His Columbia records would barely be able to be called commercial. Performing was far more important and he often took a small fee and a plane ticket.
Only once did he ever attempt to be commercial(the Weavers), while wildly successful(several top ten singles, and TV appearances) ended quite badly with the blacklisting and Decca dumping them. He was physically attacked and assaulted in Peekskill along with Toshi and his children by the American Legion(or at least the local chapter) who attacked his car, shattering the windows and covering his children with broken glass after a concert by the legendary Paul Robison. That's just one time.
Even while at Columbia he continued to record "un-commercial" records for Folkways(Labor songs, Spanish civil war etc). How many of us can sing the chorus of "Peg and Awl" or the "Homestead Strike Song"?
Pete Seeger will live as long as people play banjo and guitar(the long neck banjo with the 5th peg was created for Pete by Frank Profitt). Yes his reputation will survive this, but I doubt that you will see ANYONE who actually knew him accept it(The kids know that). And I seriously doubt many will seek out his records because they heard him sing in a 30 second ad. Hell, most have no idea who is singing, and some would avoid JH because they put that "un-American" Seeger on TV.

 

Few did more than Pete Seeger to keep some of the old folk songs alive by exposing them to new generations of aspiring folk singers and listeners. For that, his musical legacy is secure whether or not his work is used to sell products. However, you might want to look up the story behind his Almanac Singers' album Songs for John Doe to find out why he was/is not universally loved....

 

Why do you think I am unaware of those records? Lets see, those were 75 years ago and predated WWII. WWII left many angry and disillusioned at the Russian "leaders". So are you justifying the BS done to him by the corrupt Red Channels?
To remind you Pete, Woody, and Lee Hayes all served in WWII.

 

I can't imagine why they never would have permitted it. The guy is a professional performer, and commercials are perfectly legitimate means of making a living. Many performers do commercials.

 

Your first sentence says it all. Its called principles.

 

Yes they did serve-- when Stalin said it was okay.

 

This commercial kills fascists.

 

Just an update for those that seemed to care.
It appears we were heard. Wal Mart is now gone(other than mentioning they have locations there) from the ad. It is now a 50 dollar VISA card.
I think we won the point.

PS thank you Gary for allowing this posting!

 

The one good thing about it is that people who have never heard Pete Seeger will hear him singing this fine old folk song and seek out more of his music, possibly leading to their learning of his philosophy and activism.

 

Nobody told Woody ANYTHING!

 

Principals indeed. Pete Seeger is a dude that made a living with music. At least, far as I know, he didn't do all that music for free.
Good principals dictate that professional musicians who make their living from music have every right to market their songs just like someone who builds furniture has a right to market their chairs.
Except to those who have never made a dime from their music and donated it to the world while making a living other ways, getting paid for use of or for performing songs is pretty much how it works.