Initial Outline

For the purposes of this investigation, I have filtered all advertisements that make use of the music of the Beatles into four distinct categories (discussed below).

I will, in addition, attempt to prove that Beatles music has been used by different advertisers in two general ways: Advertisers adhering to the first method have used the music of the Beatles in a manner that seems similar to the messages of the song itself. Those that use the music of the Beatles in the other manner have tended to pick and choose messages that best suit their products. It is important to note, however, that although the message of the former method might appear to be more faithful to the messages of the songs in question, it is still designed to sell products.

Furthermore, I believe that there is a chronological pattern as to when these methods as employed. While there is, of course, some overlap, I have found that earlier advertisements tend to use the former method while later advertisements appear to adhere to the latter.

For lack of better phrasing at this early stage in my research, I will refer to the former method as message-allegiance and to the latter method as consumer-oriented. I fully expect these terms to change.


The first category that I will be discussing in this examination is that of the Beatles as a signifier of revolution.
Within this category, I will be focusing on two main case studies: a Christian Childrens Fund commercial using "Happy Xmas, War is Over" (message-allegiance) v. Nike "Revolution" (consumer-oriented).

The second category that I will be discussing is that of the Beatles as a signifier of love, friendship, and peace.

Again, there’s a duality. Songs originally carried a very specific message of love as being anti-war, pro-free love or both. They were written very vaeguly – all you need is love. These songs don’t say, stop killing each other and start loving each other. They just say love is a good thing. How the beatles songs go from specific to general over the years. That has something to do with the way the songs are crafted – there’s something about them that lend themselves to broader messages, and even broader commercial messages – musically they’re simple enough to be jingles and also they messae themselves – all you need is product.

I am less sure about the case studies that I would like to provide in this section. As of now, I will be examining the Amnesty International "Imagine" Campaign (message-allegiance) and a Luvs diaper ad that uses "All You Need is Love" (consumer-oriented). I will likely provide one mini-case study on both Nortel and Qwest's use of "Come Together" in their recent campaigns (consumer-oriented).

The third category that I will be examining is the Beatles as a signifier of nostalgia and memory.

While there is less duality in this category, it is important to note that the music of the Beatles, even in the initial years of its popularity, was inherently nostalgic. Although there are no commercials that fall into this category in the earlier years, therefore, it goes without saying that nostalgia was a part of the beatles. On Sgt Peppers, for example, they dress up in old military outfits and strive to evoke the old concert hall music that was essentially the antithesis of what rock and role music was about. Paul McCartney's "When I'm Sixty-Four", for example, maintains a 1930s style crooning and a 2/4 beat instead of the typical 4/4 beat for rock and roll.

The main case study that I will provide in this category, therefore, is that of the 2002 Allstate Insurance advertisement that featured Julien Lennon singing "When I'm Sixty Four" (message-allegiance).
I may also provide a mini-case study of an ESPN advertisement featuring "Hello, Goodbye (consumer-oriented).

The final category that I will be discussing is that of the Beatles as an appeal to youth.

Once again, this category can be examined through a pointed comparison. On the one hand, there are advertisements from the 1960s that used the Beatles to target a youthful population (refer to Thomas Frank) and then there are more recent advertisements that make use of the Beatles in an effort to attract a new youth audience. Whether the music is a strategic tool to secure a youthful audience, however, is unclear. It is, instead, more likely that the use of Beatles music in more recent advertisements is meant to bridge a generational gap that would allow products to appeal not only to youth but also to their parents. In this particular case, the importance of the play between audio and video is explicit: while actors in the commercial might, for example, be young, the music might be a tool to attract or appease older clientele.

The case studies that I will provide in this category are a variety of 2008 Target commercials that feature "Hello, Goodbye" (consumer-oriented) and a 1964 Marlboro advertisement that, although it doesn't feature the music of the Beatles, uses their image as an appeal to youth culture (message-allegiance).


This, of course, is simply a tentative outline. There are other factors that will be added to the examination and there will likely be several changes to that which is already laid out.

If you'd like to see the spreadsheet that I have been working from, you can access it here: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=piOcrPGnHN9c5bPWINhs2NQ&hl=en