Occasionally on the site I post some advertisements that bear a striking resemblance to current pop songs (See The Black Keys vs. Pizza Hut and Home Depot and The Strokes vs. Pizza Hut). In one case the original artist even turned down an offer and the brand proceeded to write a soundalike (See Beach House vs. Volkswagen). The other day I was watching a Diet Coke commercial and it immediately reminded me of Pharrell Williams‘ “Happy”. I found the Diet Coke ad on YouTube and the songwriter Garen Gueyikian even appears in the comments. I’m sure he’s a good guy and this is a great gig. But hey, it’s gotta go on the site 😛
UPDATE: 3/16/2015 I have searched far and wide for this commercial spot but it looks like it has been completely removed from the internet. Coincidence?
UPDATE: 6/16/2015 Special thanks to Daniel in the comments for tracking down the Diet Coke ad. Here is the full audio of this ad:
Click here for more Advertisement Soundalikes
Great little get Keith.
They overlap one another wonderfully.
Do I hear $$$$$ and court?
Thanks!
It’s a known fact that a company may not be willing to pay the royalties to use a song for advertising, so they will get an Advertising Agent to change it just enough so they can get what they want for less. I learnt this from my Music Technology Lecturer at TAFE, who is the Secretary of the Musician’s Union for his local branch and has composed jingles, but he writes original jingles.
Some examples of jingles I have seen which have the same or similar tunes to well known songs include: Makin Mattresses, who like Creedence, having used Down on the Corner as the basis for a jingle (Toyota would later do the same), and the current jingle as of 2010 sounds like Hey Tonight and Brickworks used The Flintstones theme song for their jingle, which I can’t seem to find.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfABzpA-dic#t=17s
I think ChemPlus had a jingle that sounded like Love in the First Degree by Bananarama (1987).
Do you have a link for that ChemPlus ad?
Unfortunately, I don’t. But here’s a link for the Pizza Hut Cheesy Bites ad where Jessica Simpson serves a pizza while singing the jingle to the tune of These Boots are Made for Walking.
And CC’s new ad uses I’m a Man by The Spencer Davis Group for their jingle. Also, Smith’s used Happy Together by The Turtles (1967) for a jingle.
And Chemist Warehouse’s new jingle is clearly based on Our House by Madness.
HAHAHAHA
And both Cadbury and XLotto based a jingle on Wouldn’t it Be Nice by The Beach Boys. Goulburn Valley had a couple of jingles, one sounding like Chatanooga Choo Choo.
Speaking of Pharrell, you might want to check out Ed Sheeran’s “Sing” (produced by Pharrell) and Pharrell’s “Come Get It Bae” are uniquely different songs, but there are definitely parts of one song that sound like the other..
Hi! In France this ad’s music for a fruit beverage also rings like Happy, but not exactly the same : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nmdwd4ZTRI
Omg. Just heard it tonight. Sooooo TRUE!
But seriously, sometimes you come across cases like this which are like “What a cleptomaniac, that’s not even worth stealing!”
Sprint ripped off “Lullaby” by The Cure, apparently.
http://www.spin.com/articles/sprint-ad-cure-lullaby-ripoff-kyle-mooney/
Awesome, thanks for the tip! Just posted it here: https://www.thatsongsoundslike.com/2014/06/26/sprint-vs-the-cure/
They all steal – the best songs were already written. If you research it, the so-called stars with their grammy winning songs have paid off the bereaved estate for stealing their songs, like those that steal from marvin gaye, and countless others. You see it is cheaper to steal and make loads of money than to come up with something fresh. If coke “steals” from an artist, that artist is not a victim but part of as stealing community. Imagine the access these producers have to past music with their camouflaging equipment. A new device is being developed that will scan a song and reveal just what song was ripped and what studio techniques were used to pull it off. Of course Sony and others have the money to pay off anybody that becomes a screeching wheel. Is mafia involved? What do you think?
It’s cheaper to pay millions of dollars for a derivative work than to write something original? The way I see it, when starting out one cannot afford it and once established as a songwriter, why bother with a derivative work? Of course not everyone follows this line of thinking.
lol coke ad gone..
keith..
ya might wanna start making copies for yaself since these ads disappear.
Yup. I’ve started to do that. Something happened behind closed doors here because I can’t find a trace of this ad anywhere.
It’s amazing that anything can be removed from the internet. People say it’s nearly impossible, because something can be removed from one location and be uploaded to another. Maybe there wasn’t enough interest in it for it to turn up elsewhere.. and Coca Cola really wanted it gone, with the finances and resources to make it happen.
Found the commercial: http://www.ispot.tv/ad/7Ka6/diet-coke-just-for-the-taste-of-it
Oh wow! Thanks so much!
I gotta figure out a way to rip this down so I have it permanently 🙂
That answers my question. It wasn’t gone, just difficult to find amongst everything on the internet.
https://youtu.be/bCvsikXZ9wk
is happy a bit like this??