Applied Semiotics/Smiotique applique 2:4 (1997), 119-131

Connotative Meaning and Advertising Music

Erkki Pekkil
University of Helsinki
Roland Barthes was fascinated by the hidden meanings of newspaper
advertisements. In one of his articles on the subject, he elevates them
(1988) to a status comparable with the greatest achievements of human-
kind, in the same category with literature, cinema, sports, journalism and
fashion. A good advertisement, in his mind, embodies the rhetoric of
poetics, puns, metaphors, and the great themes of humankinds existence.
Although Barthes essay deals with newspaper advertisements, it raises
the question of whether something similar can also be found in the televi-
sion commercials.
The music of television commercials is not a totally unknown phe-
nomenon in ethnomusicology or musical semiotics. There are some case
studies that come into mind (Toivanen 1993, Vlinoro 1993, Pekkil
1994, Tarasti 1996). There is also a mention in Titons (1992, p. 439) stan-
dard study book, in which the authors talk about research projects that
can be carried out in ones neighbourhood or backyard. In one of these
projects, the authors suggest video recording television commercials with
music, and then describing the musical style, the visuals and ones own
feelings about the commercial, i.e. whether or not the message was re-
garded as successful, or insulting to the intelligence.
An interesting point here is that the music of television commercials
is regarded as comparable with the real music of ones own surround-
ings. As we think of this more closely, we find that this may indeed be the
case. From the point of view of the music listener the receiver it is not
important whether the performer or the sender of the message is present
physically, or through the mass media. Today the mass media are creating
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an artificial, electronic reality that becomes a part of our neighbour-
hood, the soundscape surrounding us (see also Pekkil 1996).
What is essential in television commercials with advertising music is
the musics meanings. The music of commercials does not spring from
nowhere; it can be seen as a reflection of the music surrounding members
of a culture in their everyday life. Here, real musical genres or pastiches
are often transferred into commercials to communicate certain social
meanings. A typical example, described by Walser (1993, 15), is the bor-
rowing of the heavy guitar sound of the 1980's by the mainstream pop
music industry to evoke intensity and power (for instance Robert
Palmers Simply irresistible). According to Walser, it was soon trans-
ferred into commercials bearing the same semantic connotations. For
instance, heavy guitar was used in a jingle (Be all that you can be) in a
U.S. Army recruitment ad, where military service was described as an ex-
iting and youth-oriented adventure. Thus advertising music may very of-
ten make use of the social and cultural meanings of heavy metal music, as
a rhetorical means of strengthening its message. Thus if the advertising
music borrows cultural meanings, this may also work the other way
around. We can say that advertising music is a cultural mirror reflecting
the social meanings of different music. For instance, the fact that it was
just the heavy guitar that was used in the television-commercial that was
targeted at action-minded men tells something about the social meanings
of music.
Of course we need to be careful with these kinds of generalisations.
In small countries like Finland, commercials are produced on such a small
scale that is more or less contingent what kind of music is used in a given
ad. But in large economies like the United States, where TV advertising
has a long tradition and the business activities are massive as compared to
any country, the techniques of use of advertising music are probably mas-
tered well Huron (1989), for instance, believes that for economic reasons,
such as competition, there is an evolution of techniques that has taken
place in the development of advertising music. Since commercials have
been produced for several decades, during this time different means have
been tested in a severe economic competition. Thus the least effective
means have, little by little, been weeded out, and what has been left is a
collection of the most effective devices that can communicate meanings
intimately reflecting the society in various social contexts.
It is not too difficult to accept this idea as we examine the scale on
which American television commercials are produced. In 1977 some
$80,000 to $100,000 were spent per commercial, on average. As the run-
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ning of the commercial may cost some $100,000 each time, and the com-
mercial is shown some 60 times, we can figure out that is a question of
enormous sums of money. The solid economical basis is probably the
reason for the fact that the production of music also takes places on a
large scale. When for instance a country-style singer was needed for a
Pepsi commercial, a suitable person was looked upon in auditions organ-
ised in local country music clubs. Out of some 75 applicants only one was
chosen and all the pains taken were only for a 30-second commer-
cial(Young and Young 1977).
The Chewing-Gum Commercial
In the next section I will briefly discuss the qualities of an advertising
musical piece using a typical American commercial that has probably
gone through the filtration process mentioned by Huron. It is a Wrigleys
chewing-gum ad which has been shown both in the United States and
Finland, probably among other countries, based on a jingle, a tune that
is peculiar to the commercial. There are at least three different versions of
this particular advertisement, under which there is a single common jin-
gle. In the following section I will discuss one of these versions. Although
my aim is not to generalise on the basis of this single advertisement, I in-
tend to use it to exemplify some things; one has to state that the commer-
cial is a typical one in its structure. There are plenty of international com-
mercials made on the same pattern.
The visuals of the commercial can be described briefly as follows:
1. Two military pilots on the ground, with a jet fighter on the back-
ground, are going for a flight. They slap their palms together in a
high-five.
2. A white Wrigleys Extra Menthol chewing gum packet is flying in
the air on a blue background.
3. The jet plane is taking off.
4. A girl is trying to catch a cab in New York by waving her hand.
While the cab passes by, the girl, disappointed, drops her hand, first at eye
level and then lower down.
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5. A young man, wearing a black jumper and jacket, is standing in
front of a wall mirror, his back to the camera. The man, looking at his
reflection, moves his head toward the looking glass, then backs up and
turns to the camera with a triumphant, self-satisfied smile on his face.
6. A stick of Wrigley Extra Peppermint chewing gum, turning around
in the air on a pink background.
7. A group of young girls, their hands lifted, is running on the ocean
beach, each wearing a swimming suit and an open mens shirt with long
sleeves.
8. A young woman in a blazer is standing before the camera. While
she turns around, it is shown that she is wearing only a swimming suit
under the blazer.
9. Two men, a younger and an older one, both wearing collared skirts
and ties, the younger one also suspenders, are seen in their office. The
younger one is sitting on a chair and examining sales charts while the
older one, apparently the boss, is standing behind him, the left arm pater-
nally on the younger ones shoulder and patting him on the back encour-
agingly. The younger one is turning around and looking the older one
directly in the eyes with a proud, delighted expression on his face. Both
raise their hands.
10. A body builder, with an uncovered upper body, is seen on the
beach, with a clenched fist. By his side a woman with long hair wearing a
top and red shorts is trying to unclench the hand. Both are having fun
and laughing.
11. A young man wearing sun-glasses and a sleeveless T-skirt, with a
young woman with sun-glasses on the background, is seen on an ocean
beach. The man is juggling three balls of different colours.
12. A Wrigleys Extra Menthol chewing gum packet is seen against a
yellow background.
13. A young long-haired girl, eyes closed and with a delighted air, is
putting a chewing gum stick in her mouth.
14. A young man, obviously a college student, in red sports wear, is
opposite the camera in front of some college buildings. While turning
around, the man is revealed to be throwing a Frisbee.
15. A young man is walking on the street. From behind, a young
woman appears, laughing. She strikes him with a bunch of balloons, then
staggering, him grasping and then hugging her. Both laugh.
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16. Three senior citizens, in baseball outfits, are standing in a circle,
hands lifted. They embrace each other by the shoulders, then hug.
17. Wrigleys Extra Peppermint chewing gum packet is seen is in the
centre with two other packets on its side, slowly turning around.
18. A little boy in a collared shirt and blue suspenders and his mother
both holding hands. He has lifted his hand. Some ladies are seen in the
background.
19. Four men are sitting in a row in navy uniforms, caps worn. They
salute.
20. On a basketball court, a black and a white man in sportswear carry
a third man, himself in a white shirt and tie, toward the camera.
21. Two Wrigleys chewing gum bars, Peppermint and Menthol, on a
blue background. In the right hand corner there is a red text: Now
here. At the bottom, on a white background: Real great tasting xylitol
gum.
There is no plot in the commercial but it consists of a group of
pictoral segments. Each fragmentary segment is a mini-story in itself in
the sense that there is something happening in them. These happenings
are flashes of every-day life, where dull moments have been cut out and
what has been left is a series of high moments of life. The pictures are
beautiful, like sugar candy, greater than life; there is nothing that would
denote weariness or discomfort. People are more often than not young
and beautiful. In spite of the fact that the commercial is fragmentary,
there being no direct connection between the pictures, there is a logical
connection behind the ensemble. In the pictures people often do some-
thing with their hands: lift them in the air, slap each others hands, em-
brace somebody, keep the hands clenched. The shots also begin often
with persons standing with their backs towards the camera and continue
with them turning towards the camera. In the shots there is generally
something interesting and surprising. The pictures change fast with an
increasing pace toward the end of the commercial and thus climax.
The Lyrics
The commercial is heavily based on the jingle. The jingle in itself is a
mainstream rock piece in a medium tempo and the emphasis on the sec-
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ond and fourth beat, performed by a rock group with an electric guitar,
bass and drums. The (white) vocalist is singing with a rock sound, backed
up in the chorus section by a female singing group. Structurally the music
follows pop, and there is first the A- section (with a chord structure
I-V-I-V-IV-V/I-IV patterns -V/I-IV-I) and after it a B-section as the
chorus, in the beginning of which there is a small break and an ascend-
ing, fanfare like upward Wrig-ley as a pre-hook. Section B is four
measures long, driving, IV-V-I chord structure based phrase that repeats
itself a couple of times but that could be repeated for on and on. In the
chorus there is the lyrics-based hook, a catch-phrase Its a piece of
America, share a little piece of America. The delivering of the message is
supported by the fact that the slogan also shows up in a written form in
take final take of the commercial, where there is a picture of the chewing
gum and the previously mentioned text.
The lyrics of the song and the visuals are tied to each other. When we
hear the line It goes with the guys that handle the sky, we see pilots, the
chewing gum and the jet. When we hear it goes with the lows, it goes
with the highs, we see a girl flagging down a taxi, a man looking at him-
self in the mirror and a stick of chewing gum. When we hear It goes
with the girls who live in the sun we see girls running on the beach and a
girl turning around. When we hear Its a part of the job, we see men
working in a business firm and girl flirting with a body-builder on a
beach. When we hear Lets try, we see a girl with a pack of chewing
gum. When, in the chorus section, we hear Its a piece of America we
see a Frisbee and balloons, in share a little piece of America, baseball
and chewing gum, lets try a little boy, Its a piece of America the mil-
itary cadets and a basketball court and when we hear share a little piece
of America the chewing gum.
Music
When considered together, the visuals, the music and the lyrics of the
commercial become a remarkably unified whole. All these elements bal-
ance well with each other and give support to each other. The lyrics and
the picture are bound to each other because the same things are repeated
in each other. Although telling the same thing twice may seem unessen-
tial, the explanation in this case is probably that the visual flashes are very
fast and short and the advertiser has in this way tried to guarantee that the
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audience gets the message. The chorus that is also in a written form at the
end of the commercial is at the same time the hook of the whole adver-
tising copy. The function of music is very primary. This could even be
regarded as a radio commercial based on a jingle, to which visuals were
later added. Although this is not probably the case, the commercial would
work well as a radio commercial as well. In this case it would require a
voice over or a reporter text to explain what is being sold.
Because this commercial is so heavily based on music, it would not be
hard to think of what kind of impression the commercial might leave
without it. Without the music track the flash-like picture stories would be
quite inconceivable since the meaning of the flashes will become apparent
only after the lyrics of the song have been heard. The narration in the
commercial comes into meaning only after the words. This narration
would feel very incomplete maybe even avant-garde if there was no
music to put the pieces together. Now there is a unified sound-track on
the behind, a musical continuity that goes advances note by note, bar by
bar, phrase by phrase, section by section, this giving the pictures the feel-
ing of a unified whole. There is no doubt that without music the com-
mercial would leave the viewer indifferent, because the silence would give
him the possibility of watching the visuals in a neutral or critical way.
Now the music starts with a trivial section A- but goes on the to the cho-
rus. Then comes an emotional climax, where the singer and the choir re-
peat the keywords America and share.
There is no doubt that the silent picture would leave the viewer as
uncertain about the target audience at whom the commercial had been
aimed. Nowadays, mainstream rock signifies a large demographic group
from young people to middle-aged, all of whom probably will buy and
chew gum. Undoubtedly a silent advertisement would not induce the
viewer to see the product presentation to the end because the fragmen-
tary picture flow reminds us of music videos that do not give the promise
of a climax. Here, the viewer remains to listen to the piece and its chorus,
which after a moment comes and rewards the listener; the waiting was
not vain.
The importance of music in the commercial is to tie together the flow
of pictures, to give the commercial continuity, to induce the viewer to see
the commercial from the beginning to the end and also to create an emo-
tional undertone and some kind of climax.
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The Relation to the Music Video
This chewing-gum publicity piece is in many ways reminiscent of a
music video. Like a music video, the commercial is built upon a jingle
with a introductory part and a chorus with a drive. As in music videos,
the visuals of the commercial are very often the illustration of the lyrics.
The editing of the picture is reminiscent of a music video but much faster
in pace. The rapid montage rhythm explains the fact that in the minute
long fragment they have tried to put as much information as possible.
From the music video this commercial is distinguished by the fact that
the pictures are unnaturally perfect and beautiful. Another distinction is
that in the commercial the product, the chewing gum, is shown instead of
the star.
The fact that the commercial and the music may be close to each
other, as in this case, is not a surprise. I have noted this phenomenon ear-
lier when I analyzed a beer commercial and a music video that had the
same tune behind them. That both were appropriate matches was obvi-
ous (Pekkil 1993). If we think the same thing another way around, from
the point of view of a music video, music video researchers have found
connections between music videos to advertising music, as well. For in-
stance Kaplan (1987, 13-14) regards music videos as basically advertising
material or sales promotion videos. The reason is a short, commer-
cial-like, four minute length, illogical pictorial changes and avant-garde
styles imitating the commercial. Similarities in the production side are
comparable kinds of freelance production groups, the absence of produc-
tion credits at the end of the video and financial ties to the record com-
pany.
In this respect, some go so far as to see music videos and hit tunes as
a sub-genre of jingle or advertising music. Huron (1989, 571), for in-
stance, claims that in the Top-40 music the musical hook works in the
same way as music behind the advertising tune. When the commercial
uses music to make itself more memorable, the hit tune uses a hook. The
means of the hook are the same as the means of advertising music: bor-
rowing from other tunes, associations, plagiarism, and the use of such
musical gestures as timbre, rhythm etc. With these techniques people try
to create authority, credibility, when a certain guitar sound may denote,
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say, Jimi Hendrix. In this sense music-laden commercials can be seen as a
paradigm for all such music.
Music videos and commercials may be very closely related. This may
in part be due to the fact that each genre imitates the other. In the music
video we may play upon consumer culture and brandnames, while in
the commercial we may consciously or unconsciously imitate the mu-
sic video.
Ordered music
The one factor that distinguishes music videos from commercials
may be the artistic element. Although some commercials (for instance
Levi-Strauss jeans ads) are, without doubt, artistic, commercials and ad-
vertising music are nevertheless basically functional, products made on
the basis of a commission.
In this setting the role of the music maker is subordinate (see for in-
stance Young and Young 1977). Although the music maker may have his
ideas and wishes, he must in the last instance make music on the basis of
what the commissioner and advertising agency want him to do. Instead in
the hit parade tunes and music videos although they are calculated the
authors have some kind of artistic freedom in the making of music.
The artistic side of commercial music, without doubt, limits the fact
that advertising business at least in the United States is very far industrial
action. Generally the making of a commercial takes place so that a com-
pany hires an advertising agency. The advertising agency does not make
the commercial itself but hires as independent producers, of which one
takes care of the shooting and another of the sound. The producer works
with many commercials at the same time. The time-table is very fast since
the commercial is made ready in 3-7 days from the briefing. After the
shooting the producer of the soundtrack get as first a copy of the com-
mercial and so called storyboard, where there is the manuscript of the
commercial. He gets also a demographic description of the fact to what
target audience the commercial is aimed at. Here there is usually the gen-
der and age and sometimes also the colour in the commercial meant for
instance for the black people. The target group affects the choose of the
music. The producer if he is not himself the composer hires a music
maker. The election takes place on the basis of what kind of music is
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needed. After a few days the composer comes back with the melody and
if it is good enough, they also call the arranger who hires the musicians
and makes a reservation for the studio time. In the music recordings there
is with somebody from the advertising agency and a copywriter (Young
and Young, 1977). It is probably clear that in this kind of music making
you do not operate with musical or intrinsic meanings but with social
meanings. It is not very important what takes place on the sound-track on
a musical sense: What kind of melody-line, what chord progressions,
what invention, is there? Instead, it is important that there be traits in the
music that evoke some cultural meanings that attract certain target group
like young, old, men and women.
The function of the music is to serve the message of the commercial,
affect the viewer, and to be one of the components that create a positive
image of the product which is being presented. Commercial music is not
a value in itself but its aim is to influence the viewer. The music here is an
autonomic element and it serves the rhetoric of the commercial. Of
course there is a paradox here, in that the makers of the commercial mu-
sic do not think along these lines. They may be making what they con-
sider good music. The problem here is that commercials are collective
texts, there are many people making them and the possibilities of the mu-
sic maker to the whole are non-existing.
The Meanings
What is the meaning of the commercial? First of all, it is quite useless
to talk about one meaning here. In the field of cultural studies it is agreed
(e.g. Fiske, 1989) that popular culture texts are polysemic, containing a
multitude of meanings. Despite the fact that the viewer could interpret,
decode one and only meaning involved in the message, he uses the text as
a resource to builds up new meanings. Here it is a question of large social
meanings, and I do not want to talk about them. Instead, there is some
kind of immanent meaning on a textual level in the commercial that the
advertiser has put there.
The apparent purpose of the advertiser has been to connect the prod-
uct with daily-life and its events, especially the joy and also the disap-
pointments. The message is that the product can be used in all situations.
Another is underlying meaning can be found in the jingles chorus where
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Vol. 2 (N 4) 1 2 9
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there are two keywords: America and share. In the commercial, the
chewing gum is not only displayed as chewing gum but also a piece of
America. For the Americans this may be a patriotic concept but for the
international audience, instead, a mythological concept of Ameri-
can-ness, whatever it may mean to different people in different coun-
tries. The chewing of gum is not chewing but a symbol of Ameri-
can-ness.
If we go even further with these interpretations, the chewing gum can
be seen as a secular form of a sacramental bread. When, in the sacrament,
the bread becomes the body of the Christ, in the commercial the chewing
gum becomes the embodiment of American-ness and chewing the gum
a sacred ritual. Here the second keyword share is very important. It is a
question of sharing, a common experience, becoming a part of some-
thing that is greater. In the commercial both America and chewing the
gum are being inverted into a myth.
In the commercial, what Roland Barthes (1988) said becomes clearly
obvious. His idea was that advertisements do not work with the means of
denotation but through connotation. Barthes example was an ice- cream
advertisement that told the customer to melt with pleasure. According
to him the slogan was impossible to interpret in a normal the signifier and
the signified distinction analysis. It was not a question of the fact that a
man would literally melt down but that the product in question was excel-
lent. This excellence could not be derived directly from the slogan by ana-
lysing its direct, denotative meaning. In spite of the denotation, the mean-
ing was on a second, connotative level that was lying behind the first level
of signification. That which was connected in the matter was that this
second meaning could not be derived directly from the message but it
was existent only as indirect, social meaning. The chewing gum commer-
cial works in a similar way. The denotative meanings of the surface struc-
ture (fit for the boys and girls, fun and grief, city and beach, work and
leisure) are naturally trivial ones. The same can be said with the cliches
the baseball, the basketball, the sailors, New York, Californian beaches,
the body- builders, the business surroundings, etc. are pictures with
which we are familiar from the movies. Instead the mythical meanings
build on the surface structure meanings, especially the mythical America
metaphor or share-these give the commercial a new dimension.
Why does the advertiser not to say directly that the product is excel-
lent but takes refuge from this kind of hidden communication? Barthes
(ibid., p. 9) explains this with saying the advertiser wants to replace the
banal concept of buying with a spectacular world where the man is give
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distance from a consumer society and addressed as the truth of poetic
kind. Here we must, however add that especially in the television com-
mercials it is not a question of buying but building an image. The aims of
the commercial is not namely sell, because the buying proper takes place
in some other place that in the viewing situation; instead, the task of the
commercial is to present the product, to create images, to attract (see
Bolen 1981, p. 5-6).
As Fiske (1989, p.26) states, we could say that the consumer society is
basically a system that does not circulate money but cultural meanings
and please. From this point of view the basic function of the chewing
gum commercial is to create fields of meaning. The main product in the
commercial is the chewing gum, but the function is not to communicate a
sales message but circulate the product with these mythical or connota-
tive meanings, and this is exactly what happens to take place here. The
half a minute episode contains a collection of an impressive group of
flashes of the great themes of the humankind: work and leisure, war and
piece, love and hatred, succeed and failure, joy and grief, young and old,
men and women. This visual gallery combines in a suitable way in the
product and gives the viewer mythical resonance and is open for different
associations and interpretations.
The issue here is not a question of denotation (direct sign-signifier
relationship) but the Barthesian connotation, indirect meanings that can-
not be extracted directly from the visuals or the music, it does not make
sense to analyse the surface structure of the if the aim is to unfold the
meaning of the commercial. The signification does not lie in the details or
their relations but behind them on a social and ideological level.
In regard with the music we must stress that the function of the mu-
sic in a commercial is to be a part in a puzzle like pattern. It is one com-
ponent that functions together with other features and creates a certain
kind of a myth. The music in itself does not contain any programmatic
aims. The meaning is created with the common effects of music, the
words and the picture and also in the social interpretation of the viewer.
Vol. 2 (N 4) 1 3 1
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