Apparently Heinz are in trouble because their advert might cause people to beat razor edged tins with their hands until they bleed. While this is unlikely, and is simply a great opportunity for a) Heinz to get some free publicity and b) little Englanders to froth about ‘elf’n’safety gone mad’, I’d like it to be kicked into a pit and molten lead poured on it for completely different reasons.
One: It’s the soft-focus, grab-a-ukelele, twee guff that really boils my soup.
Two: It’s close to theft. Theft of another theft, really. Remember Lulu and the Lampshades and their ‘Cups’ song? It was championed by David Hepworth in his blog some years ago, and in the old magazine. It’s quite charming. LATL even played a Word in Your Ear gig. Here’s the original:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWCOYJg9ps4
This was then borrowed (ahem) for the film Pitch Perfect, in a scene starring Anna Kendrick. Here it is, at 1:22:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmSbXsFE3l8
A few months ago, I was at some arts centre evening of entertainment (a freind dragged me), and a shit-awful ‘Glee’-style acapella group did their turn. You can probably guess what their centrepiece of the set was. The most annoying thing was they didn’t say they were covering the song, and didn’t correct anyone who told them what a fantastic, original song and performance it was.
And now, a marketing exec has decided, rather than come up with something original, they’d nick the style, alter it enough to not incur any royalties and make it a ‘thing’ again. I don’t know who came up with the original ‘Cups’ song – it might not have even been Lulu and the Lampshades (if it was, I’m very sorry). But it wasn’t the makers of Pitch Perfect. It certainly wasn’t the awful acapella group, whose name thankfully eludes me. And it sure as dickens wasn’t the original idea of Weasel Thief Bastard, or whatever Heinz’s ad company is called.
Hope you don’t mind my ranting, but I had to get that out.
Steady now. Don’t upset the good Captain. Prefer the old advert “Beanz Meanz Fartz”.
Aw, I think it’s really sweet.
I was at that Word In Your Ear gig with Lulu & The Lampshades, and I think I may even have commented on the blog at the time that the “cups” performance alone should be enough to get them work for as long as they wanted it…
When I saw it in Pitch Perfect years later it actually made me wonder if the L & L version was original in itself, and happily it was (though based on an old song) and they’re actually credited writers, so one would hope they’ve been raking it in ever since…
That’s good to hear.
However, the crappy acapella group and the rip-off advertisers still deserve a slap.