Teaching the world to sing?

The artist formerly known as Jack White of White Stripes fame has signed on with Coke to write a new song for an upcoming commercial. White, a self-described Coke-addict (there are others - you know who you are), reminds me of an interesting argument I made some years ago in a column about selling out. The column was a piece of satire about the convergence of commercialism, capitalism, marketing and democracy. I painted a long-and-winding narrative about a nation led by President Bill Cosby (during his Jell-O pitching days) and bankrolled by the likes of Coca-Cola and Microsoft (and that was before these guys took over). It was a sophomoric attempt to show my displeasure at how personality sells and now a decade later, some of those feelings remain true. But in 2005, I wonder exactly how bad certain levels of "selling out" are? To an extent, numerous people were introduced to Richard Buckner because of VW's use of "Ariel Rameriez" in one of their car commercials (There are also, of course, Modest Mouse and Nissan, Eminem and iTunes, Franz Ferdinand and Sony). My opinion now is that the integrity of any artist is in their ability to push the limits of their medium. Art must challenge the viewer and leave them changed by the experience. As long as artists retain their license to stretch their skills and engage their audience (and themselves) doing a little extra on the side doesn't seem to disrupt the balance.

For more on music in advertising go here.