Title: 1970s Coca Cola Commercial - "It's the Real Thing!" (sang by 'The Fortunes') Source:
utube URL Source:https://youtu.be/AhGcHMJ4PbQ Published:Jul 27, 2015 Author:The Fortunes Post Date:2015-07-27 13:10:38 by Liberator Keywords:Coke, Commercial, Jingles Views:5715 Comments:12
If you were of age, you've got to remember this:
Poster Comment:
Time for a 30-second commercial break and nostalgia.
I'd searched a long time to find this jingle from Coke, sung by 'The Fortunes (who also sang, 'Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again', 'You've Got Your Troubles, I've Got Mine'.) Always thought their 'It's The Real Thing' was a great, cheery up-tempo catchy jingle. It seemed as though many of the 1960s and early 1970s jingles were indeed cherry and up-tempo, mini-hit singles unto themselves with memorable hooks. Those commercial jingles of old can be just as memory-evoking and sentimental as hit songs.
The Fortunes' trademark was harmonies. They'd had a couple of notable hits that were mentioned, but were mostly big in Britain. They also wound up doing several Coke jingles in the 60s and early 70s. This particular one was my favorite. (Soon afterward, Coke started their PC ad campaign ("I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke...")
Anyway, this commercial's simple montage of attractive young, modest all-American ladies was message enough. Buy a chick a Coke and you were standing on First Base :-)
Today's vulgar commercials would feature rap or Gaga with and a bunch of blatantly grinding exposed derrieres and boobs in the views' face (for some of you, I realize it replaces your old Penthouse Mag.) In other words, too many of today commercials are like sitting at the front of a bar at a Go-Go joint. It's simply NOT needed. Within the last decade or so, if the commercials aren't vulgar, they're nasty, mean-spirited, and in-your-face insulting. Btw -- back to the commercials of the distant past, a couple of other favorite commercial jingles of mine were Marlboro's recognizable 'Magnificent Seven', and especially one titled, 'Going Home.' What I found of the latter wasn't the actually Marlboro commercial jingle, but a version of the song discovered in a youtube Marlboro compilation of jingles. IF you're interested:
Seems to me this clip you found was the original jingle. They changed it before long to improve the vocals and the later version was much more widely played. Didn't they also fold a few lines from this song into the end of their I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing jingle? The harmony style and vocals were similar between the two jingle ads.
#4. To: TooConservative, out damned spot (#2)(Edited)
Seems to me this clip you found was the original jingle. They changed it before long to improve the vocals and the later version was much more widely played.
Didn't they also fold a few lines from this song into the end of their I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing jingle? The harmony style and vocals were similar between the two jingle ads.
OY. How I despised that commercial and considered it Commie propaganda -- even at the time.
Yup, Coke's "I'd Love To Buy The World A Coke" (which became "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing") did take elements from that original Coke jingle. Coke's "It's the real thing....what the world wants today...." lyrics were retained. And I also believe the 'New Seekers' were given credit for this dopey jingle charting.
That said, two different harmonics and vocal styles are at work, IMO. The lyrics? Ugh. The Fortunes had a unique sound, a driving masculine sound; THIS version was emasculating and fem-driven. You could say it was the beginning of ridding the world of white, male "power" in commercials.
From Wiki:
The song first aired on American radio on February 12, 1971, but failed. The TV commercial, titled "Hilltop", was directed by Roberto Malenotti. The ad cost $250,000, the most expensive commercial in history, at that time.
[snip]
The eventual total cost of the commercial was $250,000—an unheard of price in 1971 for an advertisement. The finished product, first aired in July 1971, featured a multicultural group of young people lip syncing the song on a hill in Manziana, outside Rome, Italy. The global unity of the singers is emphasized by showing that the bottles of Coke they are holding are labelled in a variety of languages. The song became so popular that it was recorded by The New Seekers and by The Hillside Singers as a full-length song and became a hit.... ....In 2007, Campaign magazine called it "one of the best-loved and most influential ads in TV history".
...In 2007, Campaign magazine called it "one of the best-loved and most influential ads in TV history".
Coke never regretted spending that money for those iconic ads. They remade the entire corporate image of Coke, globally. No doubt, they had various versions in many languages as well, not just the English version we know.
