Chris Brown's "Forever" Actually A Wrigley Jingle

Sharp-eared pop-music fans may have noticed a brief reference to an old chewing-gum jingle buried in "Forever," Chris Brown's top-10 hit. "Double your pleasure/double your fun," the R&B singer croons in the chorus.

What listeners don't know -- and what Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. planned to reveal Tuesday -- is that the song is a commercial.

"Forever" is an extended version of a new Doublemint jingle written by Mr. Brown and scheduled to begin airing next month in 30-second spots for Wrigley's green-packaged chewing gum.

Mr. Brown is one of a trio of pop stars enlisted by ad agency Translation Advertising, a unit of Interpublic Group of Cos., to update the images of three of Wrigley's best-known brands.

The campaign includes spots featuring R&B singer Ne-Yo doing his own take on Big Red's "kiss a little longer" jingle. And "Dancing With the Stars" regular-turned-country-singer Julianne Hough recorded a twangy version of Juicy Fruit's "The taste is gonna move ya."

But Mr. Brown's "Forever" is the most ambitious part of the campaign. Mr. Brown was commissioned to write and sing both the pop song and a new version of the Doublemint jingle, introduced in 1960.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[ibivi]

He's stealing from an old gum jingle? Why does this man have a recording contract? Where's the talent if that's all he can come up with? May be he should be doing children's albums. They like catchy tunes.

[Kevbo68]

Every song is an ad for an album.

[YOUNGGLOBAL]

translation marketing strikes again... i wonder how succesful this will be...

[mathme]

Someone needs to teach the world to sing.

[BlueZoo]

AMEN!

[InedaName]

The CBC did a special about the blurred line between hip hop and commerce four years ago.

http://www.cbc.ca/rhymepays/

[castanza2008]

That's an excellent piece, just watched and read it. Going to make all the kids on my block watch it. Thanks.

[ThePeacemakers]

Which is why people don't want to pay for music anymore.

[JScott]

Oh please this is nothing new some variations of this kind have been used for years...
I'm thinkin of that 'Moby tune Porcelain(?) was used on a Lincoln commercial ,Clannad's tune that was used in a VW commercial and don't forget Delibes Lakme Flower Duet and variants used by British Airways. Not to mention public domain / classical pieces

[FreedomsRoad]

Those songs were licensed after the fact, this song was commissioned. Not at all the same thing. Especially since the public weren't told it was a jingle. Sponsorship rules apply here....

[theJuanStar]

Madonna's "Like a Prayer" would be a more accurate example. It was commissioned by Pepsi and later dropped under pressure from Southern Evangelicals.

[Bettysdad]

There is a bit of a difference between a song being used in a commercial, and a song being a commercial.

As far as I know, The Beatles' "Yesterday" was not an ad for calendars.

[CitizenFace]

Can't wait for a bluetooth iphone to offer me a free music download of a not-so-subtle pop song about how much cooler brand A of ice cream is over brand B just as I happen to be walking down the dairy aisle...

Or maybe my car radio can start playing that great new hit about how delicious the new chicken-flavored nuggets are at McDonald's, reaching that perfect crescendo pitch JUST as I happen to be passing a billboard showing me how affordable those nuggets are. As the song draws to a close, my GPS will say in an oh-so-casual way that, "Hey, guess what? There just so happens to be a McDonald's off the next exit." Which will be welcome coincidence, because by that point I'll -really- want some'a those nuggets.

[kellygrrrl]

I could see that happening
It's pretty weird knowing I can locate my daughter any time by checking the location of her phone

[Paw1]

Sorry, CF, I prefer to believe that my fellow Americans are savvy enough, after almost 60 years of this sort of thing, to know a hustle when they see one (or in this case, hear one). Bottom line, if you think Doublemint gum tastes bad, you're not going to chew it, no matter how many times Chris Brown tells you to. If you like it, you will.

I don't begrudge Brown, or any other rapper for that matter, his desire to cash in while he can. The music business is no longer about nurturing acts for the artistic long haul; they're in it for the quick disposable hit. As such, Brown is exhibiting a higher level of self-awareness than most by doing this gum thing. This way, he has a chance to remain solvent long after his 15 minutes have come and gone...

[SpoxLogic]

Well said. However, concerning your point that "after almost 60 years of this sort of thing, to know a hustle when they see one (or in this case, hear one."
I think that, unfortunately, the opposite has happened. The brainwashing process has been so slow and insidious that the majority of people haven't noticed that they are being manipulated. One need only talk to the average person on the street and I bet they can probable tell you more about what is happening on a soap opera, "reality" show or some stupid television series than they could about the two candidates for POTUS.
Hell, a lot of them might not even be able to tell you the DATE of the election.

[MarcInCA]

Wow there's something really disturbing about this. And frankly I think that Wrigley's owes some advertising money to all the media outlets that have been participating in their advertising campaign unknowingly for the last couple of months.

[InspiredByTruth]

Why does the article keep referring to him as "Mr Brown"? He is known as Chris Brown. Just seems a little odd to me why they would leave out his full name, which is also his stage name.

[MarcInCA]

Because that's how they refer to everyone they write articles about. To refer to him differently would be a breaking of the rules of their style guide.

[mckinley]

Yep. The New York Times refers to Snoop Dogg as "Mr. Dogg".

[ABCD]

Oh my goodness. First of all...he's like 19 years old. He just made a boatload of money on a new single...and, he'll double that by getting paid from Wrigley's too. You guy's are certainly hating on him but, I guarantee you his 13 year old fans could care less about the gum jingle.

They may actually think it's cool.

[FreedomsRoad]

And since this artist was picked to target young African Americans -- a demographic that is least likely to have access to dental health care or nutritious natural foods, all the better!

[mockstar]

That's exactly why this is such a pernicious racket, sure to cause cynicism in aspiring creatives: the artist and corporation collude in a totally non-transparent way. It's worse than just bad music.

[UnionJok]

How much did Wm. Wrigley pay Peter Shaffer to write the jingle into "Equus"?

[UnionJok]

How much did Wm. Wrigley pay Peter Shaffer to write the jingle into "Equus"?

[deckard70]

It's the future of Demolition Man, today.

[JTaverner]

This is where we cue Jim Morrison's foreboding voice, singing "This is the end . . ."

[mckinley]

Actually, JTaverner, Jim Morrison ends "Touch Me" with the Mister Clean slogan "Stronger than dirt!"

[surfcitysteven]

Yeah, but that was a joke.