Was trying to work out who had taken the dosh from Cadbury's in that appalling advert. Is it just me or do you think she refused to eat the flake the way that everyone else does just in case it looked rude??

Can't believe the remaining members of Queen agreed to let DFS (that sofa company) use "I Want It All" on their adverts, the ones which have the bloke who sounds like Stuart Maconie.

use of the The Joker, by the Steve Miller Band, for i think Levi Jeans, and Alright Now, by Free for Chewing gum.
These cinical explotation of music, did open them up to a new generation.
oh, and layla on the ? vauxhall car ads, always good to hear.

What is cynical about it?
Probably made more money out of that use than they did when those tunes were in the charts.

Love is his message, in the form of a cheap moped.

And, whilst you mentioned Bob Dylan's ad for Cadillac, there's this:

Thoroughly decent of you not to include this. I remember catching it one night in Los Angeles after a heavy night out. Next morning, I wasn't sure whether it had really happened:

A list of Serge Gainsbourg TV Commercials. Regrettably there is no actual footage

Throughout the 1980s, French Lothario, Serge Gainsbourg starred in and directed TV advertisements for the likes of Konica and Palmolive, among other less well-known brands.

Thus far I haven't been able to track down any of these potted masterpieces. I am dying to know what a Gainsbourg commercial for Lux soap might look like.

Didn't Madness do an ad for Honda that was only for japanese tv? - it went Honda Honda Honda Honda whilst they did the Nutty Walk.
Also, for completists only, I think that The Icicle Works did a US only ad for Budweiser in about '84.
I think I should have a lie down now...
Alex

...musicians appearing in adverts and maybe playing some original music. I don't feel any sense of ownership there.

It's different with their music. If a song that means something to you is suddenly being used to advertise Coco Pops, that feels like a betrayal. It's like your partner whispering in your ear: "I love you… almost as much as I love new Ariel washing powder, now with Omega 3 and friendly bacteria!"

As an artist, you take a big gamble with the integrity of your work when you licence one of your existing songs to a TV ad campaign. I can't listen to The Lightning Seeds anymore without thinking of that ghastly Renault Scenic commercial:- An advert that seemed just a little too pleased with itself, as evidenced by the closing line "and you know I'm right", which immediately gave it the smarmy, condescending air of a Party Political Broadcast.

It's not just the song used on that occasion (Marvellous) that has become tainted by association. It's Ian Broudie's entire back catalogue. I used to listen to The Lightning Seeds. Now I can't stand any of their music.

This isn't a principled intellectual response on my part either. It's a primal gut reaction, of the kind more commonly experienced while in close proximity to broccoli.

A popular trend in the 80s; one now thankfully on the wane, was for lyrics of popular songs to be rewritten for the purposes of an advertisement. That is how Apeman by The Kinks became Ski Man and was used to sell Ski yoghurts.

Worse is watching Leiber and Stoller's Hound Dog getting hijacked by miniature animated Yorkshire men and used to advertise Round Tetley's Teabags (they did likewise with I Get Around by The Beach Boys)

The one advert in this genre that I can tolerate is the rewrite of Madness's Baggy Trousers that was used to advertise a strange Soylent Green-like product known as Colgate Blue Minty Gel. The end result was as much a homage to the band as it was to the toothpaste.