Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Learning a New Song
This story is kinda sad. End of an era..
Hassenpfeffer Incorporated to Change Jingle
Milwaukee (FN) - Forget the schlemeil . Forget the schlemazel. Hassenpfeffer Incorporated, whose catchy jingle made it America's most famous processed rabbit meat company in the 1950's, has decided it's time to change its tune.
The Milwaukee-based firm today announced that it has commissioned infamous shock-rock band Gwar to compose a new jingle to replace the company's decades-old standard.
"I don't want to run down the old jingle. It has served us very well. It was just time to go with something a little fresher. Fifty years is a long time to stick with anything in advertising," said company communications director Jerry Everitson.
Hassenpfeffer Incorporated, which supplies so-called "surplus" rabbit meat (some would call it road kill) to the dog food and dried meat snack industries, first launched its famous "One, two, three, four..." jingle in 1957. It was featured on the Edsel Show, a series of hour-long Bing Crosby musical specials also noted for being the first TV show recorded on videotape.In perhaps one of the first occurences of viral advertising, the song became entrenched in Americans' minds after it became incorporated into a then-popular version of a children's hopscotch game.
The song enjoyed a revival in the 1970s, when it was used as part of the opening sequence to Laverne and Shirley, a 1950's nostaligia spin-off of Happy Days.
Everitson predicts the new song by Gwar will prove equally enduring. The proposed new lyrics of the Hassenpfeffer jingle are:
"Yaaaaar! All you motherfuckers! Eat my shit! Gaayaayaar! Suck my dick! Hassenpfeffer Incorporated! Naaagaayeeaa!"
"We feel the new jingle puts a fresh new twist on the Hassenpfeffer brand and will help us build market share by positioning us to reach a younger demographic," said Everitson.- 30 -
posted by Mentok @ 9:50 a.m.,
3 Comments:
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At 5:28 p.m.,
FiL said...
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Oderus Urungus singing the praises of Hassenpfeffer Inc? Man, I am SO there!! Perhaps the next step is to adapt the lyrics to "Tormentor:"
Ha-ssen-feffer!!!
Surplus bunny rabbit meat
It tastes so good
Chew up every last bit of gristle
Suck the ichor from the organs
Because
Here are the skulls of the rabbits
Here are their vile scabby pelts
The more flesh you eat
The happier you will be
This is the story
Festooned with glory
This is the story
It's not a sin
Festooned with finery
Consume them in the winery
Festooned with filigree
There are maggots in the bunnies!
Ha-aa-ssen-pfef-fer
Ha-ssen-pfef-effer...
(Etc., etc. ad nauseam)
So, you think I have a future in advertising?? -
At 10:38 a.m.,
Mentok said...
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Fil - you do so totally have a career in adverts. And / or shock-rock. You know, INXS and Pussycat Dolls have had those replacement-member reality shows. Maybe Gwar is next? You can always dream.
(The expression "replacement-member", always ripe with potential, seems esp. humorous in the context of Gwar) -
At 1:58 p.m.,
FiL said...
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Yes, I could be Oderus's next cuttlefish...
