Is Originality Dead?

In Ecclesiastes 1:9, the Bible says: "...and there is no new thing under the sun." I would have to agree. At the risk of offending Christians everywhere, I have to say that this verse was obviously written with future television commercials in mind. All you sons and daughters of the 50's and 60's, remember when you listened with rapture to The Beatles' "When I'm 64" and all you could think of was how weird it would be to see a 64-year-old Beatle? Well, apart from the fact that it has been VERY weird to see at least two of them reach that milestone, it's even weirder to hear that song in the background of an Allstate television commercial.

I'm sure Aretha Franklin did NOT have in mind selling Hondas when she sang with such passion "Rescue Me". And I can't even begin to tell you how aghast I was to hear Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine" played over a video game commercial. Seriously, have advertisers completely run out of anything new to say? Surely, the ad people behind M & M's could have written a commercial jingle that is fresh and new instead of using the classic "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes".

Is it just that they're too lazy or unimaginative to write anything new, or is it that they think that people who grew up in the 50's and 60's are America's major target market for products in 2011? I don't know the answer to that, but I'd be interested to hear what YOU think.

While you're pondering this, let me list a few other unoriginal commercials that use 50-year-old songs to hawk their products:

Budweiser - The Beatles - All Together Now
Nissan - Elvis Presley - Devil In Disguise
J C Penney - Theme song from Love Story, the movie (well, it was made in 1970, but the point is still valid)
Hewlett Packard - Melanie - Brand New Key

Can you name any more?