The Famously Grouchy Lou Reed Had Good Words for Adland
Posted in: UncategorizedLou Reed, the music revolutionary who reformed rock with the Velvet Underground, died Sunday at 71. Creativity aside, Mr. Reed had a few ties to adland — an endorser for one product, and a defender of the industry as one of the few “fair” to artists. The latter
In 1985, Mr. Reed became a pitchman, representing Honda scooters. One TV execution, shot in New York’s Lower East Side during a far grittier time, used his classic “Walk on the Wild Side” to great creative, if not commercial, success. Mr. Reed, revealed at the end of the commercial sitting atop a scooter, delivers the line: “Hey, don’t settle for walkin.'”
David Halberstam shared an excerpt from his book “Playing for Keeps” — which chronicled the rise of basketball star Michael Jordan — with Advertising Age in 1999, describing the ad Mr. Reed starred in and its strangely captivating flavor:
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