Here's a top-ten list of jingles posted by AdAge.com (http://adage.com/century/jingles.html)
What poetic elements appear in these successful slogans? (Note: #6 is written in iambic pentameter - a popular meter for sonnets and 'serious' poetry :-) )
TOP 10 JINGLES OF THE CENTURY
1. You deserve a break today (McDonald's)
2. Be all that you can be (U.S. Army)
3. Pepsi Cola Hits the Spot (Pepsi-Cola)
4. M'm, M'm good (Campbell's)
5. See the USA in your Chevrolet (GM)
6. I wish I was an Oscar Meyer Wiener (Oscar Mayer)
7. Double your pleasure, double your fun (Wrigley's Doublemint Gum)
8. Winston tastes good like a cigarette should (Winston)
9. It's the Real Thing (Coca-Cola)
10. A little dab'll do ya (Brylcreem)
On Number 9:
ReplyDeleteThese are the rest of the lyrics to the Coke song. I found them online written in even long lines. But I re-broke the lines according to the rhythm of the song, and they fell into perfect ballad stanzas:
I'd like to buy the world a home
and furnish it with love,
Grow apple trees and honey bees,
and snow white turtle doves.
I'd like to teach the world to sing
in perfect harmony,
I'd like to buy the world a Coke
and keep it company.
[Repeat the last two lines, and in the background:]
It's the real thing, Coke is what the world wants today.
Each quatrain alternates iambic tetrameter with iambic trimeter lines. This is probably the most common stanza in English song, especially for hymns. The quatrains rhyme ABCB. After the second quatrain the song repeats and over dubs a final refrain. The refrain makes innocent use of hippie language of the time. "Be real, man." "It's my thing." (or NOT).
The song balances positive abstractions such as love and harmony with positive images of apple trees, honey bees and white doves. Coke, the song suggests, belongs among them. Not surprisingly, the song was easy to remember and evoked positive feelings.
John Savoie
number 5. uses rhyme with USA and Chevrolet.
ReplyDelete