I Had No Idea These 10 Commercial Jingles Were Done By These Huge Music Artists
Catchy commercial jingles have involved some of the biggest names in music. While some artists may have taken part early in their careers before gaining fame, others were featured in endorsements at the height of their success.
Some brands, such as Pepsi, have utilized an ongoing rotation of popular artists throughout their modern campaigns, including Britney Spears, Beyoncé, and David Bowie. Other brands, like Kellogg’s, have only dipped their toe into the endorsement pool and don’t typically leverage a high-profile artist as part of their regular marketing ideation.
Since the creation of commerce, every business has been embroiled in a never-ending battle to display superior branding power. When there are metaphorical egos on the line, bigger financial budgets equate to superstars singing about an ordinary household product. That is what has led to these 10 iconic artists producing some incredibly memorable jingles, many of which I was completely shocked to learn about.
10 AC/DC
Hoover
While in New Castle, Brian Johnson was contacted by an elusive, German-accented woman. She was attempting to persuade him to audition for AC/DC in London. That same day, Johnson was also contacted by Monty Python producer Andre Jacquemin, inquiring to have him pop in and lay down vocals for a Hoover advertisement jingle.
Jacquemin had just opened a recording studio and was taking on adverts to get going. The recording studio was conveniently also in London. This remarkable chain of events is what gifted us with one of the most vocally intense vacuum commercials to exist. You get to hear the lead vocalist belt out lyrics such as, “The new high-powered compact from Hoover, it’s a mover!” Johnson’s vocal stylings, which would go on to become synonymous with AC/DC, are the standout in this commercial.
9 The Rolling Stones
Rice Krispies
In 1964, at the early cusp of their fame, The Rolling Stones created and performed a jingle for Rice Krispies cereal entitled “Juke Box.” The band was only formed in 1962, so securing them for an endorsement was a significantly easier feat to accomplish at the time. They wouldn’t be well-known in the US until 1965’s “Satisfaction” hit the airwaves.
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The jingle was written by founding band member Brian Jones for Kellogg’s Great Britain. It features the onomatopoeia ‘snap, crackle, pop’ branding that the Kellogg’s derivative utilizes to this day in their ad campaigns.
Lyrics include, “Pour on the milk and listen to the crackle of that rice. Hear that talkin’ crisp, Rice Krispies!” The magic of this jingle is hearing the gritty, blues-rock sound of The Rolling Stones in such a family-friendly way.
8 Notorious B.I.G
Pepsi
What makes this collaboration particularly unique is that it was done posthumously. Sometime in 1997, the Notorious B.I.G. recorded a freestyle rap nearly exclusively talking about his love for Pepsi. The rapper would end up passing away in March of the same year.
While his discography includes a high percentage of posthumous releases, his estate had been holding onto this for over 20 years - that is, until Pepsi approached them seeking a collaboration to commemorate his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2020. Timed with the rebranding of Pepsi that saw the company leveraging 1990s nostalgia, the “Pepsi Freestyle” campaign utilizes Biggie’s magnetic, effortless flow to align with a younger hip-hop latent demographic. The remastered track includes the lyrics, “Nothing can beat the P-e-p-s-i. Yes I drink it constantly; cop it by the case.”
7 BigBang & 2NE1
LG Cyon Lollipop
When boy band BigBang was approached to be brand models for the LG Cyon Lollipop phone, YG Entertainment utilized this major brand collaboration to introduce audiences to 2NE1. South Korean pop idol artists are commonly courted to promote various name-branded products. These campaigns are considered career achievements rather than selling out. Typical protocol features a full roll-out of a specially created song with an accompanying music video.
BigBang member T.O.P. has most recently been seen in Netflix's Squid Games 2 as the character Thanos.
Leveraging the amount of attention the highly produced campaign would receive, YG used their most popular artist at the time to introduce their newest girl group. “Lollipop” is able to stand alone as a legitimate song and manages to feature nine individuals across a nearly four-minute track. There is accompanying choreography and one of the most brightly colored music videos you’ll ever see.
6 Girls’ Generation
Intel
Promoted as a collaboration between Girls’ Generation and Intel, the song was created for a marketing campaign for Intel’s Core processors. The song itself was available to be purchased by the public, while both print adverts and commercials were produced across Asia featuring the nine-member South Korean girl group.
The branding of Girls’ Generation at the time was a very sweet, girl-next-door vibe. The group appealed to both men and women, executing an idealized version of femininity as the branding’s baseline. The lyrics of “Visual Dreams (Pop! Pop!)” are intended to be flirtatious, containing English lyrics such as, “Get into my deep love core. Oh! My first kiss.” There is background repetition of the word "core" throughout, alongside a robotic counting of “one, two, three, four” to more directly reference the Intel Core processors.
5 Dave Navarro
Gap
During a brief period in the late 1990s, Dave Navarro was contacted by Gap to take part in their upcoming holiday campaign. What makes this commercial supremely impressive is that it features Navarro improvising on-set for the filming.
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While other entries on this list feature thoughtfully recorded songs, this advert was made live on the spot. Featuring his signature atmospheric guitar style, Navarro improvised a few riffs that culminated in him ending the exhibition with the Gap’s "Fall into the Gap" melodic theme.
A short-lived campaign, it allegedly only ran for one week before being pulled from broadcast. Navarro is dressed in perhaps his most eccentric style incarnation to date, in a long red duster adorned with black feathers - a look he would take on the road as part of Jane’s Addiction’s 1997 Relapse Tour.
4 Whitney Houston
Diet Coke
Whitney Houston’s debut album in 1985 didn’t receive tremendous commercial success and had a slow-burn rise over the course of its tenure. In part, this is what led to her singing the “Just for the Taste of It” jingle for a Diet Coke campaign.
In 1986, Coca-Cola sought the powerhouse vocalist to be in a series of commercial spots to bump up the sales of the beverage. Diet Coke was the company’s attempt to more directly compete with Diet Pepsi, which utilized the parent name of Pepsi and was overtaking sales of Coca-Cola’s original diet drink, Tab.
Securing Houston in the midst of her early fame makes this advert a treat for listeners who enjoy her vivacious sound. Paired with visuals on par with an upscale music video production, Houston freely displays her vocal agility throughout.
3 Aretha Franklin
Chevrolet
Another cross-section of pop culture in the 1980s is Aretha Franklin’s “Heartbeat of America” for Chevrolet. During the latter half of the '80s, Chevrolet was going through a rebranding from their classic apple-pie, all-American image to something a little more soulful.
While the melody was already being utilized, it received a welcomed revamp when Franklin was brought in. Franklin herself was going through a bit of a rebranding after a dismal decade at Atlantic Records in the '70s.
She signed with Clive Davis’ Arista Records in 1980 in an attempt to get her career back to its early luster. Davis' guidance gave the people what they wanted: a return to the gospel-led vocals Franklin had been known for. Her vocal display on the song elevated herself and the Chevrolet brand to new heights.
2 Michael Jackson
Pepsi
This campaign has become perhaps more famously remembered for injuring Michael Jackson than for the promotional period itself. During the 1980s, there was an economic boom in America, and big brands were spending big money on carefully constructed advertisements. Pepsi pulled out all the stops to secure Michael Jackson as their lead celebrity endorsement for their Pepsi Generation campaign.
The lead boy in the video is Alfonso Ribeiro, who'd go on to his eponymous role of Carlton Banks in the sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air the following decade.
Not only did they get the King of Pop singing unique Pepsi-centric lyrics, but they also secured the ability to utilize the instrumental for “Billie Jean” in the commercial spots. Perhaps the epitomic representative of a superstar endorsement, this advert has become a pop culture moment on its own merit. We all know the story: Jackson received severe burns on his scalp from on-set pyrotechnics. Nonetheless, his ability to flawlessly sing blatant brand phrasing over his own hit song was exemplary.
1 Ano
McDonald’s
McDonald’s has always been superior at creating earworms you can’t get rid of. In 2023, McDonald’s Japan outdid itself, featuring “Smile Agenai” by J-Pop artist Ano as the focal point of their No Smile campaign. Ano is an anti-idol of sorts, in part because she is a high school dropout whose continual display of individuality and bluntness generates strong reactions.
Ano resonates strongly with the Gen Z population in Japan, who make up 60 percent of the fast-food company’s workforce. However, the longstanding hospitality-driven gesture of permitting customers to literally "order a smile" from employees countered the younger workforce’s desire to authentically express themselves.
What makes this the top pick is the music video itself. It's a fully fleshed-out song accompanied by an enticing and accessible TikTok-ready dance, all packaged in a storyline of customer-and-employee. Ingeniously, this campaign isn’t selling a product; it’s promoting a corporate-level brand overhaul to better match Gen Z’s values of self-expression.
