Hasta La Creative!

The following Taco Bell commercial from last fall has had a recent inexplicable resurgence on broadcast TV over the past few weeks, and it’s got me thinking a bit about tv spots and the music chosen to accompany them.

Aside from the bizarre appearance of the grim reaper and a few other oddities, the most bizarre (or at least thought provoking) thing about the commercial is the use of Modern English’s “I melt with you.” While the song has a special place in my heart, I’m not sure that the connection with Taco Bell really works for me. New Wave and Cheesy Beefy Melt don’t really go hand in hand in my mind, and I’m left thinking about Modern English – not ye old Bell.

It’s really no different than a few other fast food commercials over the past year, most notably the Wendy’s spot that used the Violent Femmes’ “Blister in the Sun” on TV and radio. There was also the Nintendo DS commercial with all the kids singing “Santeria” by Sublime. Not necessarily horrible, but peculiar choices, and ones that I don’t think i would have consciously made.

Does dumping a cult classic or one-hit wonder song into a commercial always make sense? Is it always the best idea? Does the grim reaper really eat at Taco Bell? Just a few questions that have been mulling around in my head lately.