Five Video Clips from Spain

Playlist
by Cande Sánchez Olmos

The clips of this selection have something in common: they are music videos and advertisements at the same time. This might become a problem for the viewer: he or she cannot easily distinguish commercials from cultural objectives. I hope this selection gives you some food for thought.


Artist: Love of Lesbian (Barcelona)
Brand: Estrella Damm (Beer)
Track: Fantastic Shine

Sun, paella, beach… all the clichés from the Mediterranean side of Spain can be found in this ad/music video. Love of Lesbian is a famous alternative band from Barcelona. With this clip the brand wants to adopt values, qualities, and meanings from those musicians from Barcelona. Every summer we witness an advertising war between two of the most famous beer brands in Spain: San Miguel (Madrid) and Estrella Damm (Barcelona). Every year both brands make music video clips featuring famous artists or bands.


Artist: Mika
Brand: San Miguel (Beer)
Track: Live Your Life

In 2013 San Miguel created a song called «Live your Life» with Mika, the English songwriter, under the slogan «A place called world». Alongside Leonor Watling (actress and singer), football players, musicians and singers from around the world were invited to participate in this euphoric ad/music video. Like in films, product placement in music videos is the most effective way to associate brands with celebrities. However, brands are now going a step further and creating their own music videos in which they «place» their products in one or more scenes, as you can see in all of these videos.


Artist: Lady Cherry
Brand: Redumodel (Make Up)
Track: Mambo Loco

Music is the way of connecting a Pin Up make-up brand with a Pin Up singer. Lady Cherry is a Pin Up singer who adapted the song «When I Get Low I Get High» (1936).


Artist: Despistaos and Wally López
Brand: Ford
Track. Devuélveme a mi chica (24H Remix)

Video not available anymore

This music video adapts a song from one of the most famous pop bands in Spain from the eighties: Hombres G. Thirty years ago, this band included a product placement in their lyrics by singing «white Ford Fiesta». Ford recently thought that making a present-day clip with this song could be the best way to advertise the car.


Artist: Def con Dos
Brand: Battlefield (EA Games).
Track. Solo en Battlefield

Bands and artists who have made music videos for brands risk losing credibility with fans and critics, especially if it is a critical rock band in Spain like Def con Dos. However, the band expressed that they are fans of the video game Battlefield, and for this reason they made this commercial directed by Dani Moreno, who specializes in «gore films». Advertisers consider that they are doing musicians a favor because a music video should simultaneously be an advertisement for the band. However, in many cases the relationship often appears more parasitic than altruistic because the product has too much of a presence in the scenes.

Biography

Cande Sánchez Olmos is a scholar writing a dissertation about brands and popular music. She worked as a cultural programmer in Fnac for seven years and now she teaches Media Semiotics and Cultural and Creative Industries at The University of Alicante (Spain). She also researches about transmedia in Spanish TV series. More about music and advertising in Musicidad.

Published on February 07, 2015

Last updated on October 16, 2020

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