Who Killed the Jingle?

Book excerpt: (Book). In this funny and insightful investigation, Steve Karmen dubbed the "King of the Jingle" by People magazine takes us back to a time when consumers happily sang along to "Pepsi Cola Hits the Spot," "This Bud's for You," and "Hershey Is the Great American Chocolate Bar," and brings us to the era of borrowed melodies, electronic sounds, and lyrics that never mention the name of the product. Did Madison Avenue get too sophisticated for its own good? Too cheap? Too sneaky? In its quest to combat the technology that allows viewer to "zap" the commercials, "tune out," or eliminate advertising, did the advertising world invent "integration" (putting the product into the programming) rather than make the commercials lovable, hummable units of entertainment themselves? Karmen explores the demise of the advertising music business and why the future of advertising is so precarious.