Five Video Clips from Spain

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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. Follow her on Instagram and LinkedIn.

Published on February 07, 2015

Last updated on October 16, 2020

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Filmstill: Bonnie Banane & Waltaa (Music), Helmi (Video): «Champs-Élysées» (France 2014)

Fresh and Ironic

Commentary

by Cande Sánchez Olmos

«In this country, you gotta make the money first. Then when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the power, then you get the women.» That's how the video clip «Champs-Élysées» by Bonnie Banane and Walter Mecca (Waltaa) begins, a quote by Tony Montana from the gangsta movie Scarface. As our author states, this video mimics today's trivial lifestyles and challenges at the same time the misconception of women by parodying their seeming frivolity. From the Norient book Seismographic Sounds (see and order here).

«Champs-Élysées» is a provocative music video that uses parody to spread awareness about a superficial society that only worries about brands and money. The video’s audiovisual discourse is powerful because it is delivered by Bonnie Banane, a fresh French female rapper whose appearance contrasts with the stereotypically oversexualized image of her mainstream counterparts. The critique of a materialistic society starts with the video’s title. The Champs-Élysées of Paris is used as the symbol of consumerism and the concentration of top luxury brands that have converted materialism into a myth. People do not consume brands because they need to meet certain needs, but because they want to reach a social status and recognition and reflect a certain identity. In this video, material objects and brands rain down in an imaginary scenario, while money is shown to be the passport to a materialistic and shallow life that is made easier by the effects of drugs.

To parody today’s trivial lifestyles, Bonnie Banane uses the conventions of rap, a once minority and revolutionary genre that has been co-opted by capitalism. Some brands have found in hip hop a community willing to consume symbols of distinction and rebellion. Bonnie Banane and Waltaa offer a context that gives rap its subversive origins back. This argument becomes more significant when a woman delivers it because nowadays female rappers who criticize superficial lifestyles obsessed with beauty and money are a minority. Advertising and successful music videos performed by rappers such as Niki Minaj reinforce the stereotypical image of women as artificial with surgically-enhanced bodies. Bonnie Banane, with a nod to 1990s fashion and brilliant audiovisuals, challenges this misconception of women by parodying their seeming frivolity.

Two examples include the beginning of the video when she quotes Scarface or her desexualized performance – in contradistinction to Minaj – and confident attitude. Based on this video, it can be argued that she offers an alternative representation of a female rapper. Finally, it is important to note that the song is free to download on weirdata.net, a label founded by Waltaa. Bonnie Banane’s decision to make it available there strengthens the anti-capitalist message of her clip.

Cool, hot, dope, sharp, easy, nice, real and tight are keywords that describe «Champs-Élysées». This sparkling music video shows, via a female and «fresh» voice, the dark aspects of a materialistic lifestyle in which only money matters.

This video is part of the Norient exhibition «Seismographic Sounds» and this commentary was published first in the correspondent Norient book.

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. Follow her on Instagram and LinkedIn.

Published on October 30, 2015

Last updated on April 30, 2024

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Seismographic Sounds

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