Did The Rolling Stones Sell Out With 2 New Commercials?

The Rolling Stones‘ songs “Start Me Up” and “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” showed up in a pair of recent commercials. Does this signal the band has sold out? In addition, why isn’t this conversation more prevalent?

Songs by The Rolling Stones have been used to advertise many different things

At some point, classic rock became a fixture of commercials. Last year, moviegoers might be treated to David Bowie’s “Starman” in the trailer for Lightyear, The Doors’ “People Are Strange” in the trailer for Morbius, and The Rolling Stones’ “Beast of Burden” in the trailer for Dog starring Channing Tatum — all during the same trip to the movies!

The Rolling Stones are having a particularly good year as far as marketing is concerned. “Start Me Up” is the centerpiece of a new advertisement for an all-you-can-eat dinner at Applebee’s. It’s a pretty sexual song for an ad for fried shrimp!

Perhaps more fitting is the placement of “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” in a preview for the new episodes of Ted Lasso. Despite this, it’s not the quality of the ads that’s notable here. It’s the use of The Rolling Stones’ songs. Has a band that was an essential part of the 1960s counterculture sold out?

Some fans hated when The Beatles’ ‘Revolution’ appeared in a 1987 Nike marketing campaign

Something similar happened in 1987. Nike featured The Beatles’ “Revolution” in an ad for their products. According to a 1987 interview in the book George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters, Yoko Ono allowed the original version of the song, rather than a cover, to appear in the ad. 

Yoko’s decision set off controversy. This development upset Paul McCartney and George Harrison. “We believe that unless it’s restrained — the idea of just handing out Beatle records to become commercials — there’s going to be a plethora of … I mean, there’s going to be four or five hundred ads advertising anything, you know what I mean?” George said.

“Sausage rolls, hamburgers … And like, the man, whoever wrote the article — I’m not sure if it was Time or Newsweek — said at the very end, ‘And yet it just took somebody three minutes to make John Lennon into a jingle writer,'” he said. A contemporary report from the Los Angeles Times said dozens of fans sent letters to Nike saying it was not tasteful for them to use The Beatles’ music in their marketing.

Why did The Beatles’ ‘Revolution’ being in an ad spark controversy but The Rolling Stones’ songs being in ads did not?

So if The Beatles’ music appearing in an ad set off so much controversy, why do these commercials featuring The Rolling Stones’ songs get off the hook? Is it because of their subject matter? Some of The Beatles’ songs, notably “All You Need Is Love,” have an anti-materialist message. 

Then again, The Rolling Stones’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” has a bit of an anti-materialist vibe as well. Perhaps this blatant rock ‘n’ roll commercialism is more acceptable now because we’re used to it. After all, The Beatles’ “Because” was in the trailer for Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets and that didn’t inspire notable criticism.

Or perhaps our culture is just beyond the point where we care if an artist is blatantly commercial. Regardless, it’s nice to hear Rolling Stones songs coming from my TV set.