If you watch much television you certainly have seen the new ad for Heineken Beer set to the music of a remix of Elvis’ hit “Bossa Nova Baby.” In it, a guy embarks on a search for a mysterious beautiful woman with only the some enigmatic cards to guide him. Each card takes him deeper into the heart of the city and eventually leads him to the girl of his dreams.
That girl has a considerable resemblance to Priscilla. I wonder if it was intentional. You can view the entire two-minute internet version of the commercial by clicking here and scrolling down a bit. The ad runs 30 or 60 seconds on TV.
You probably remember that Elvis’ songs or his image have been used in other commercials over the years. This prompted me to do a little research on Google to find them. ElvisBlog has done Elvis Allusions in the Movies for years, so now we will look at Elvis Allusions in Commercials.
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BBC 2 – 2008:
Sorry for the fuzzy picture, but that’s the best I could pull off of YouTube. The girl in this photo is Cheryl Crow, supposedly playing bass guitar on stage with Elvis. The theme of this one minute ad for BBC2 in Great Britain was a superstar band backing Elvis in concert. The producers used footage from Elvis’ Aloha from Hawaii concert and digitally added Stevie Wonder on piano, Keith Moon (The Who) on drums, and Marvin Gay as back-up singer.
The two guitar players supposedly backing Elvis were Noah Gallager (Oasis) and Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin).
Sirius Radio – 2009:
We get both Elvis’ image and his music on the ad. “All Shook Up” plays throughout the 30-second spot that uses film stills from the ’68 Comeback Special. Three other icons that have changed their specialty are shown: Michael Jordan –sports, Richard Prior – comedy, and Howard Sterns – talk radio.
Heineken Beer – 2011:
Those Heineken people are getting their money’s worth for whatever price they paid to use “Bossa Nova Baby” in their commercials. Three years ago, they presented a one-minute ad with another theme of a guy trying to connect with a girl.
This time he’s trying to do it at an airport bar, and he resorts to a little trick to pull it off.
Energizer Batteries — 2006:
There’s a nifty little story line of this 30-second ad. A guy working the counter at a gas station is a big Elvis fan. He sees Elvis drive a Caddy in and start to fill up. An Elvis look-a-like is used for most of the shots, including this one from the gas tank POV.
The fan grabs his camera and goes outside to take Elvis’ picture. Here they insert an actual shot of Elvis’ face. When the guy tries to snap his photo, the camera’s batteries are dead. Bummer.
Brisk Iced Tea – 2011:
This 35-second animated commercial is very creative. In the shot above, Elvis is in a jail cell and James Brown pushes up a book cart. Naturally, “Jailhouse Rock” accompanies the action, which also includes Coolio and Willie Nelson.
I enjoyed this one so much, I watched it three times.
Nike – 2002:
Remember when “A Little Less Conversation” became a big hit? And we read about how the remix version by Junkie XL was created for Nike’s 2002 World Cup advertising campaign. I can’t remember ever seeing the commercial – I think it was shown only in Europe. Anyway, it is on YouTube and it lasts for three minutes. The picture above is from the start of the footage, and the small boats approaching the big ship each contain a three-man team of soccer players.
The athletes are supposedly playing in a secret tournament in a cage-like arena inside the ship. See the dark area in the bottom right corner. That’s the goal.
The ad probably could have been cut to two-minutes or less, but if you like soccer, it is full of spectacular scoring moves you won’t see in real matches.
I found all of the last six commercials linked together in a YouTube video containing forty Elvis commercials (the others were for Elvis albums, DVDs, etc.). Click here to watch them. They are all numbered, so click on 1, 2, 3, 4, 16, and 19 in sequence.
Leeker Beer (Dutch) – 2014:
This is supposed to be Elvis as an older man. He is living a secret life of leisure on a tropical island, along with several other dead entertainers. Here are Curt Cobain and John Lennon.
Others enjoying this shared seclusion are Bruce Lee, Marilyn Monroe, and Tupac.
When a boat sails into view, the group avoids discovery by a most unique plan. Click here to see what it is.
Axe Anarchy – 2012:
How do you like this look of pure yearning? It is part of an ad for Axe Anarchy deodorant that features Elvis’ “I Can’t Help Falling in Love with You” playing in the background. Numerous other couples suffer this same craving for the opposite sex, resulting in a strange sequence of events.
It’s hard to believe this type of chaos would make anybody buy deodorant. Click here to see if it works for you.
There were several other good ads featuring Elvis’ songs or his image, and new ones seem to come along regularly. So, maybe someday we’ll have an Elvis Allusions in Commercials, Part 2.
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