Read it & weep! Apologies to all those who've already read this news: > Song About Heroin Used To Advertise Bank > > BOSTON--The soul-wrenching experience of recovery from heroin > addiction was used to evoke the financial security of a major banking > institution Monday, when Boston-based Metrobank launched a high-profile > ad campaign featuring "Lust for Life" by seminal '70s proto-punk Iggy > Pop. > > > [IMAGE] > Above: A scene from the new Metrobank ad, which features a song by > longtime heroin addict Iggy Pop (inset). > > "We needed something that conveyed Metrobank's global financial > presence, high-powered transaction capabilities, and respected position > throughout the business community," said Jared Morris, president of > Ogilvy & Mather, the spot's creator. "So, we thought, what better way > than to call to mind punk forefather Iggy Pop's long, terrifying struggle > with a near-fatal heroin habit?" > > The 30-second spot, which premiered Monday during Everybody Loves > Raymond, features images of gleaming skyscrapers, money changing hands, > and businessmen on cell phones striding confidently down marble hallways. > Notably absent from the ad is any footage of a shirtless, bleeding Iggy > Pop in skintight leopard-print pants, repeatedly bashing himself in the > face with a microphone onstage at the legendary New York punk venue > CBGB's. > > Ian Hammond, who masterminded Global Tetrahedron Financial's > acquisition of Metrobank earlier this year, rolled out the new campaign > with a reception at the company's headquarters. > > "We at Metrobank are proud to welcome Mr. Pop to the Global > Tetrahedron family," said Hammond, reading from a prepared statement. "We > feel confident that this new commercial, much like Mr. Pop's exploits as > the rolling-through-broken-glass frontman for The Stooges, will greatly > appeal to our valued customers' 'lust for life.'" > > Added Hammond: "Putting your trust in a financial institution other > than Metrobank, well, that's like hypnotizing chickens." > > The spot is part of a growing trend among advertisers to utilize > songs associated with hardcore needle drugs. Among the notable > heroin-themed songs featured in recent commercials: Jane's Addiction's > "Jane Says," with its chorus of "I'm gonna kick tomorrow," for Motorola > two-way pagers; The Velvet Underground's copping-heroin-in-Harlem anthem > "I'm Waiting for The Man," for the 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee; and Neil > Young's "The Needle And The Damage Done," for the men's hair-replacement > medication Rogaine. > > "When The Rolling Stones sing, 'The sunshine bores the daylights > out of me' on Exile On Main Street's 'Rocks Off,' they're singing about > the deadening effects of narcotics addiction and their powerlessness to > escape it," said Dennis Frazier, creative director of Foote, Cone & > Belding. "Such sentiments resonate profoundly with the American consumer. > That's why 'Rocks Off' is perfect for Procter & Gamble's new line of > children's shampoos." > > Whether Metrobank's $11 million ad gamble will pay off in the long > run remains to be seen, but so far, focus-group feedback has been > overwhelmingly positive. The campaign has already helped cement the > mainstreaming of heroin-themed advertising, with more ambitious campaigns > currently in the works. > > "As junkie author William S. Burroughs conveyed in his > hallucinatory prose, the staggering physical and emotional emptiness of > drug addiction represents the escapist impulse turned savagely back upon > itself, leading inexorably to nihilism, anhedonia, and the eventual > nullification of the addict's essential humanity," said Ellen Weston, a > media consultant for C&C Marketing in L.A. "This is why we're seeing > passages from Naked Lunch featured in the new print campaign for Reebok." > > Continued Weston: "Perhaps Lou Reed put it best when he said, > 'Heroin will be the death of me / It's my wife, and it's my life.' For > Reed, life and love become the same as death, and this 'living death,' if > you will, really resonates with the American buying public in a deep and > powerful way. It's not surprising, then, that there's such a huge bidding > war between Coke and Pepsi for rights to Johnny Thunders' 'Chinese > Rocks.'" > > > (C) Copyright 2001 Onion, Inc., All rights reserved. > http://www.theonion.com/ > > <|The Onion 18 April 2001 Media Kit | Copyright > (C) Copyright 2001 Onion, Inc., All rights reserved. Masthead | Contact > Information | Privacy Policy > > > You can also see this article online: > http://www.theonion.com/onion3714/song_about_heroin.html
