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News :: Miscellaneous |
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CCR Co-opted: It Ain’t Me, I Ain’t No Millionaire’s Denim-Clad Son |
Current rating: 0 |
by Nick Abbie
(No verified email address) |
24 Aug 2001
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Another protest anthem bit the proverbial dust this summer when Wrangler jeans unveiled its new advertising campaign. Playing as background to Wrangler’s all-American-themed commercial and rah-rah flag-waving is Credence Clearwater Revival’s "Fortunate Son." What once was a Vietnam-era classic song about less-fortunate sons dying in the name of someone else’s "patriotism," has now been co-opted to sell blue jeans. |
Another protest anthem bit the proverbial dust this summer when Wrangler jeans unveiled its new advertising campaign. Playing as background to Wrangler’s all-American-themed commercial and rah-rah flag-waving is Credence Clearwater Revival’s "Fortunate Son." What once was a Vietnam-era classic song about less-fortunate sons dying in the name of someone else’s "patriotism," has now been co-opted to sell blue jeans.
Creedence Clearwater Revival was never big into protest songs, maybe that’s why "Fortunate Son" has always been such a poignant critique of American (lack of) values. Well, it is no more.
The Wrangler commercial slices and dices the song to the point that it’s message is lost, using only the guitar intro and the first verse, "Some folks are born made to wave the flag, Ooh, they're red, white and blue," leaving out the negative and critically-charged portion "And when the band plays ‘Hail to the chief,’ Ooh, they point the cannon at you, Lord." Instead we see a flag waving and are given the impression that the song is embracing American values and that we are all "fortunate sons" clad in our all-American Wranglers.
When CCR-lead singer John Fogarty sang ""And when you ask them, ‘How much should we give?," who knew that the reply would change from "Ooh, they only answer More! More! More!" to "$29.99 for "Wrangler® 936™ men's slim fit prewashed jeans."
While many of yesterday’s, and even today’s latest, rock hits have been co-opted and commercialized, Credence Clearwater Revival’s "Fortunate Son" is particularly distressing as it was once such a powerful critique of the Vietnam War. At least the Beatles’ "Revolution" was already counter-revolutionary when Michael Jackson sold it to Nike during the 1980s.
Wrangler’s use of "Fortunate Son" can be viewed as ignorant, comical, or terrible, but most of all is disingenuous. Wrangler must assume that either their demographic is too young to identify the song, that potential Wrangler customers are ignorant of the real meaning of "Fortunate Son," that they simply don’t care, or that heavily editing a protest song makes it a patriotic capitalist vehicle for denim-peddling.
In any case, my only hope is that "Fortunate Son" can counter co-opt Wrangler. Perhaps, those who have never heard or paid much attention to "Fortunate Son" will be inspired to check the tune out on with their favorite post-Napster music file-sharing software and discover the real meaning of the song. Until then, it ain’t me, I ain’t no Wrangler-clad son! |
See also:
http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=60086&group=webcast
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Counter-Revolutionary "Revolution"? |
by Abbie Road
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
26 Aug 2001
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Thanks for this report from the world of TV. I agree wholeheartedly that corporate-owned art is always susceptible to mutation for the sake of advertising and profit. That's why corporations own art--or, more generally, that's why corporations own.
And it's a shame when dissident pop music (which, overall, is a pretty rare thing) gets co-opted and contradicted so that patriotism can sell blue-jeans. Yes, the appall-o-meter should hit the red on this Wrangler jeans commercial.
I wonder, though, what you mean when you say that the 1968 Beatles single "Revolution" was "already counter-revolutionary when Michael Jackson sold it to Nike during the 1980s" It is true that you could read John Lennon's ambivalence about the viability of physical force against a violent regime and his antipathy to the cult of personality surrounding "Chairman Mao" as conter-revolutionary sentiments, especially--for example--if you imagine that the song is addressed to the people of Viet Nam, which I don't think it is.
You could also take the song as a cautionary voice to fellow revolutionaries--the hippies, the yippies, and the Weathermen, for example--from a proponent of non-violence and egalitarianism with deep and well-founded misgivings about the "Party Line" Left.
To look at the direction China and the former Soviet Union have headed since the song was written might put some weight behind Lennon's call for patience, caution, and self-examination--and for a revolution, first, of personal conviction and conscience.
--Which is not to say one must agree with the vague utopianism, inarticulate mysticism, procrastination and unfounded optimism implied by the lyrics of "Revolution." However, I don't think these implications qualify the song (especially in the context of corporate pop music) as counter-revolutionary. |
