\n<\/p>\n
Licensing a song for a commercial may be seen by some as antithetical to the countercultural spirit of rock \u2019n\u2019 roll. \u201cThere have always been protectors of the flame who, when certain songs get used in certain moments, aggressively clutch their pearls,\u201d Werde said. \u201cBut there\u2019s very little evidence that this has ever harmed any artist.\u201d He pointed to the Beatles licensing their utopian \u201cAll You Need Is Love\u201d to Luvs diapers in 2007 as perhaps the most egregious example of an advertiser co-opting a song\u2019s original meaning. \u201cBut no one really cared. It was Ob-la-di. Life goes on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Simon Allaway, 52, an Ozempic user and Chicago-based computer programmer and musician, loves the \u201cMagic\u201d spot. \u201cI can\u2019t help but sing along to it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a perfect fit with the product.\u201d Another user wrote in a message-board post that whenever she injects herself, her father sings \u201cOh, oh, oh, Ozempic.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMagic\u201d has been leased plenty of times before, for a Coca-Cola commercial \u2014 \u201cI actually sang \u2018Coke, Coke, Coke, it\u2019s Magic\u2019 back in the \u201970s,\u201d Paton recalled \u2014 for the 2005 Disney film \u201cHerbie: Fully Loaded\u201d and as the musical bed for Flo Rida\u2019s 2009 single, also called \u201cMagic,\u201d<\/a> to name a few. \u201cPeople always want to use the song in some way or the other,\u201d Paton said.<\/p>\n Asked if he was bothered by his song\u2019s association with what turned out to be a lightning-rod product, he smiled and shook his head. \u201cI was delighted! I\u2019m a songwriter. I want to sell my music. A lot of people don\u2019t know the name Pilot, but they know the Ozempic song.\u201d<\/p>\n For musicians, the success of the Ozempic commercial could be a harbinger of big checks to come. Pharmaceutical companies have seemingly unlimited budgets to promote their wares: according to the media analytics firm Guideline, pharma surpassed tech and auto in 2023 to become the second largest industry for ad spending, behind only consumer packaged goods.<\/p>\n Already, Lady Gaga<\/a> is a spokesperson for Pfizer\u2019s migraine medication Nurtec ODT; Cyndi Lauper<\/a> lends her distinct Brooklyn accent to a commercial for Cosentyx, which treats plaque psoriasis; John Legend and Charlie Puth pitch Pfizer\u2019s Covid vaccine and boosters. The Jackson 5\u2019s \u201cABC\u201d propels ads for Trelegy (used to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), while commercials for the heart drug Entresto are soundtracked by Sonny & Cher\u2019s \u201cThe Beat Goes On.\u201d<\/p>\n But those spots haven\u2019t embedded themselves into pop culture the way \u201cOh, oh, oh, Ozempic\u201d has.<\/p>\n \u201cIn contemporary advertising, campaigns tend to have pretty short shelf lives,\u201d CultHealth\u2019s Rothstein said. \u201cTwo, three years, tops. Yet \u2018Oh, oh, oh, Ozempic\u2019 continues to endure. You can do all the market research in the world, and never end up with something like this.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n