Program Length: 1/2 hour
Produced: 2003

This New Music documentary, hosted by George Stroumboulopoulos, examines the questions of ethics and economy that arise when musicians liaise with advertisers to sell products.  The following activities might be used to help viewers better understand and appreciate the program and its ideas.  Not all activities need be executed; some might take the form of discussions, while others might become journal entries, oral presentations or written assignments.  Many of the activities will be better supported by repeated viewings of the sections under study.

Before Viewing

1. Commercial soundtracks

On your own, list three of your all-time favourite pieces of music.  Beside each one, describe the reasons why they are your favourites.

Now list the brand names of three of your favourite products, e.g., shoes, clothing labels, foods, automobiles, sports equipment, etc. Again, describe the reasons why they are your favourites. 

Identify, for each of the three favourite brands, another set of brand names you would NEVER buy (e.g., love LUGZ, hate FUBU; love KFC, hate MickeyD) and give the reasons for your distaste of these brands.

Now imagine seeing a commercial for one of your least-favourite brand names that uses one of your most-favourite songs.  What do you think your reaction might be?  How do you think your classmates will respond to the same question?  What do you predict the range of responses to be among your classmates?  Why?

Do you think they would have the same reactions if they heard one of their favourite songs used in a commercial for their least-favourite product?  Why?

As a class, list the reactions, then consider people’s reasons for their reactions.  Summarize the issues regarding the matching of music to brand names.

2. Integrity

What does “integrity” mean to you?  Name some musical artists that you think have a lot of integrity.  How can you tell that these artists have integrity?  Does their music express their integrity?  How?

Are there artists who do NOT have a lot of integrity?  How can you tell?  List some examples of artists without integrity.  Does everyone agree that they lack integrity?  Why?

3. The term ‘commodification’ is useful in the discussion of Rock Stars For Sale.  Commodification refers to the process of packaging, labelling and selling things for an agreed-upon price.  Bread is an obvious example of commodification, where a combination of several simple ingredients can be packaged and sold for the same price all over Canada.  Today, celebrities such as actors, athletes and musical artists can package and sell their images, cred, and reputations to advertisers, which means they have been commodified.  The obvious example of commodification is a musical artist selling his or her music to be used in a commercial, and an even more obvious example is an artist who appears in the commercial, promoting a specific product.

Why might some people have a problem with the commodification of music and musical artists?  Why might other people have no problem whatsoever?

As you watch and listen to Rock Stars For Sale, record the statements and images that relate to the commodification debate.  At the end of the program, examine your notes and use them to prepare a written or oral presentation that explains the issue and describes the conflict between those who object to commodification and those who don’t.

During Viewing

4.  Rapid editing

This program contains many statements presented in short sound bites.  How can viewers best prepare themselves to capture and understand rapid-fire pieces of information? 

Pause the program when George Stroumboulopoulos begins his intro.

Describe the key statements and the people who made them.  Explain how these statements relate to the commodification and integrity debates.

5.  Commercials AND videos; commercials OR videos

George:  “In some cases, the Coca-Cola commercial has replaced the music video.  I watched that Common [Coca-Cola ] commercial and I was mad.  I thought it was a video.” 

?uestlove, The Roots: “Why were you mad?”

Moby says that getting his music into commercials is a good thing because it allows more people to hear his music, which is most artists’ goal.

Some people suggest that, since music videos are little more than elaborate commercials for the artists’ albums and concert appearances, what’s the big deal with music in a soft drink commercial?

What do YOU think?  Are commercials and radio play the same thing: exposure?

6. Demographics

“It’s your dad’s music selling your dad’s products.”

Demographics is a term that marketers use to talk about different parts of their market.  They might want to sell a car to a specific target audience, defined by age, sex and income, so they consult demographic research to discover the fears and desires of most people in that target market.  Using keywords or music that will appeal to that market helps their commercials be more successful in motivating  purchases.

Using specific music in a commercial can also exclude some people from the target market.  In this program, we hear Led Zeppelin music in a Cadillac commercial.   Is this an example of ‘your dad’s music selling your dad’s products?’

Describe some commercials you have seen whose music has given you the message that those products are not intended for you, and others that have probably told your parents that they are not the target market for teen products.

Can you name some products that bridge between teens and parents, or appeal to both the parent and teen markets?  How could advertisers create successful commercials to appeal to both?  What music is there that would help?  How can some music successfully appeal to several target markets, while other music has very specific appeal?

Even though we see many artists performing many styles of music in this program, there are many we don’t see.  Name some groups whose music is rarely, if ever, used in commercials.  Why might this be?

7.  Drawing the Line

“I can understand Tiger Woods selling me a golf club or Michael Jordan selling me a shoe.  But do you really want Nelly coaching your kids on the triangle offense?”  (George Stroumboulopoulos)

Tiger Woods has commodified his image to sell more products than golf clubs, and Michael Jordan has sold more than shoes.  Why might George have a problem with Nelly coaching kids?  Is this a valid concern?

8.  Balancing Art and Commerce

?uestlove, from The Roots explains that he does music for commercials, but keeps it separate from his art.  Is it realistic to think of music for commercials as separate from music for albums?  Why?

Does ?uestlove maintain his artistic integrity by keeping the two activities separate?  Why?

9.  Follow the Money

Pepsi donates money to the Wyclef Jean Foundation.  Do the reasons artists have to accept corporate money make it all right for them to sell their music?

10. Celebrity as Power

We hear of the long list of artists who have sold their images to the Gap.  Then we are told that Chrissie Hynde, lead singer of the Pretenders, was charged with criminal mischief and trespassing at a Gap store in midtown Manhattan while protesting their use of leather from India.

Is Ms. Hynde doing the same thing, i.e., using her celebrity to promote an idea, as Alanis Morissette is doing in a Gap spot?  How are their actions different?

After Viewing

11. Are artists becoming brands?

“Maybe the artist has a full line of everything.  Maybe you don’t just buy the music.”  Fraser Hill/EMI music

If artists are aligning themselves with products, are they becoming products, or brands, themselves?  Has this already occurred?

Might we soon see artists forming their own clothing, beverage and shoe companies?  Are the connections already there?  Does Michael Jordan endorse a brand of shoes, or is Michael Jordan the brand?

What examples can you give of artists becoming brands?

12.  Viagra

We see many examples of music attached to products in the end credits.  One of these is a clip from a Viagra spot, using a song from Queen: We Are the Champions.

How do the choice of actors, their actions, and the music define the target audience for this spot?  Do you think they were well-chosen?  Can you suggest another song that might be equally effective?  Which one?

13. Issue or Non-issue?

Summarize the issues and concerns that people have expressed about musical artists aligning themselves with products. 

Provide two or three examples to illustrate the concerns. 

Explain why you think Rock $tars 4 $ale is something worth being upset over, or whether it is just business in the 21st century.

Written by: Neil Andersen

Neil Andersen is a Curriculum Consultant with the Toronto District School Board. He is also a speaker and consultant in media and communications technology. His most recent work includes the Media Launchpad website, the teachers' study guide for the award-winning Scanning Television, and study guides for Space, Bravo! and MuchMusic's Cable in the Classroom broadcasts of original media literacy programming.

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Kim Rapagna
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