EF History Lesson: Product Placement (L-O-L-A)

Today is June 3rd. Thirty-eight years ago to this very day, Ray Davies was forced to fly round-trip from the US to England just to record the words "cherry cola" in place of the original lyrics he had written and recorded for the Kinks' future hit "Lola".

The BBC had refused to give air time to the track so long as its original lyrics remained in place. Any guess what these forbidden words were? Let's see, "Lola" is a song about a transvestite so I'm guessing it's something a bit edgy, right? Something NSFW? No? What were these evil words then? "Coca-cola".

Odd, yes? See, time was the BBC didn't take too kindly to overt product placements in songs. It appears they were committed to drawing a sharply defined line between entertainment and advertising (or art and commerce if we want to sound even more self-righteous). And this isn't to suggest that Coke was paying Davies on the sly to shill their soft drink; Davies just happened to use their product as a lyric, most obviously because it rhymes with "Lola".

Still, the BBC held their ground, Davies flew halfway around the world to fix the lyric, and the public went on looking at transvestites without craving a Coke (just a generic cherry cola instead). That was 38 years ago to the day. Since then, things have changed (and I'm not just talking about a Coke commercial becoming a hit single)....

Candie's is happy Fergie wore Adidas for this show
Of course you're familiar with Run-DMC praising their signature unlaced kicks in "My Adidas" or other hip hop artists dropping references to Cristal and Courvoisier in their lyrics; the presumption is that they all share genuine affinities towards these products.

But how did we get from the Kinks to Fergie? Last year, Fergie signed a $4 million deal with Candie's - a teen clothing line - to incorporate their products into the lyrics of her songs. Speaking about the deal, an Interscope executive (Fergie's label) said the following:

"The trick is to make the brand part of the song, so that it slips down easily rather than chokes the fan[...]Candie's will reach teens, but it has no say over exactly what Fergie will sing, or when. Fans might think she is just singing about candy. But it's got to work in the song."

Gross. Where's the overprotective arm of the BBC when you really need it? At least in "Lola", we could really believe that the champagne in the tranny club tasted like Coke; Davies didn't have $4 million worth of motivation in suggesting it. Tweenagers beware. Next thing you know you'll find out that "London Bridges" really wasn't about the London Bridge...

Listen: "Lola"

*above image found HERE