Fake song

A further twist on ‘fake’ is the use of a manufactured pop group to sing the praises of a brand. Earlier this month, Radio 1 withdrew a song from it’s playlists, Style, Attract, Play by Shocka featuring Honeyshot, as it was developed to support Shockwaves Hair styling products for Saatchi and Saatchi.

This looks like a clear example of developing content to covertly support a brand without an exit strategy if the ruse was discovered, as the press office first off all denied all knowledge, then said there may be something to it and then declining to comment. Something looks like it is going on and not all is clear.

Brand names in songs are not new, sometimes for artistic reasons and sometimes for paid reasons. Pop stars being associated with products with paid endorsements is common. But these are usually above board and the association is known. But this time, the relationship is not clear denying customers the choice to listen and pay attention to adverts or to ignore them because of the commercial mesage.