It’s always a pleasant surprise when a commercial I expect to be grating and annoying turns to sweetness with a few notes from a David Bowie song. The latest commercials to use Bowie’s music are the new bubble one from Rhapsody, the new one from Royal Caribbean, and one from Marks and Spencer. The Rhapsody commercial is rather pleasant as commercials go (I mean, how pleasant can an advert interrupting an interesting TV show really be?) with a few seconds of Sound and Vision playing. The one from Marks and Spencer is fun as well. It features Let’s Dance, but sadly no one in the commercial puts on shoes of any shade of red nor does any bluesy sort of dance.
The Royal Caribbean commercial is just puzzling. The commercial shows an attractive young couple having good, clean fun while Fame plays in the background. Royal Caribbean has gone from advertising family vacations to the theme of the narcotic-loving Lust For Life to pushing romantic getaways with a song about the debauchery of fame. Someone in their marketing department needs to bust out with a lyric sheet and some headphones before they pick more completely inappropriate songs to advertise their vacations. (Unfortunately, the video has been pulled from YouTube so you’ll just have to use your imagination.)
Here is the Rhapsody commercial:
You can view the Marks and Spencer commercial via their website.