I once was going to write about how the Proactiv commercials ripped off a Bruce Hornsby riff, but I was sidelined into exploring the curse that product has had on its bevy of attractive hawkers.

But not this time.

Throughout the years, commercials have ruined many popular songs by using them to push products.  Not only do the songs get overplayed, but they also become synonymous with that product.

For example:

• The Beatles’ Revolution = Nike
• Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Sweet Home Alabama = KFC (also… did they forget the K stood for Kentucky?)
• Modern English’s I Melt With You = Burger King
• Iggy Pop’s Lust For Life = Royal Caribbean (and Trainspotting)
• Styx’s Mr. Roboto = Volkswagen (and now apparently Arrested Development, too)

Well, there’s one thing I hate more than that.  It infuriates me to the bone in such a primal way that it makes me wonder if I truly am…

an Artist!

Anyspew, I can’t stand it when commercials rip-off song riffs.

As mentioned at this post’s start, Proactiv did this in their commercials.

Here are some others that I found (the articles about):

• Did the Air Force rip off The White Stripes?
• Did Reebok rip off Beck?
• Did Gerber rip off Peter, Bjorn, & John?

Or did they simply commit the act of liberal borrowing?

Want to know the source of this rage?  Budweiser has a couple of radio spots currently playing in which, I believe, this song is being ripped off:

I couldn’t find the spots anywhere on the TripleDoubleU, but one is about baseball being America’s pastime, and the other is about how there is 24 happy hours across the world.

If anyone can find those for me, I’d greatly appreciate it.   I have far more ripping and riffing to do…

BONUS STEALING!

I’ve remembered two more…

• Did Sweet and Sour Filled Twizzlers rip off La Roux?
• Did Allstate rip off Johnny Cash?

The answer for both is of course, yes.

BONUS FORGOTTEN POST!

I once wrote about Maybelline pulling this same crap…