Watch: Schubert is selling McDonalds
mainCan anyone justify this?
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Funny. Worse things have been done to Beethoven. It is a pity that Mr Schubert is not around to receive his copyright.
The ad relates to the so called “Fischer Choere”, a truly German phenomenon. Words fail me to describe them. So regarding the above question: its a cautious “yeah but no but” from me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sT2FtGOd0JM
Highly innocent but deeply embarrassing.
Shubert composed Die Forelle at his times to help digesting … I, personally , cannot see anything bad in this idea…. but to say that McDonalds sucks 😉 … just my opinion, of course ….
What’s impressive though is that McDonald’s felt that Schubert’s song has enough resonance in Germany that it could appear in a TV commercial. Granted, the words are understood there, but I could never imagine a Copland or even a Gershwin song appearing in a TV spot here in the U.S.
Actually, I believe United has used Gerschwin in the past.
Ah, good point. Rhapsody in Blue has definitely made it into pop culture. It’s safe to say Schubert’s songs are more rarefied though.
Given United Airlines’ past and present treatment of musicians attempting to take their instruments onboard, their commercial with musicians happily sitting in the cabin with their instruments borders on mockery.
lord knows “Fanfare for the Common Man” has been used and over-used for every possible purpose, so there’s Copland as well.
Imagine no more. Beef!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGGgT5rHHGA
(one of dozens from this decades-long campaign)
There’s also the less obvious Gershwin, easily missed (music by George & lyrics by his brother Ira).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7dT0gVj74g
In the 1970s, Kronenbourg used Schubert to advertise lager. The scene is Schubert in the pub. One of his friends asks: ‘Herr Schubert, what about your unfinished symphony?’ Schubert replies: ‘What about my unfinished Kronenbourg?’
First of all, the ad obviously assumes that most people seeing it will recognize Schubert’s music, which of itself cannot be said of many — if not most — countries in our so-called “civilized” world, where classical music is so little valued that it has simply become foreign to mainstream culture. Second, classical music is not a sacred cow which somehow should never be exposed to a little bit of fun. So yes, not only is this justifiable, but it does not cheapen Schubert’s music in the least — unless, that is, one have no sense of humor!
1) What, the fish filet sandwich is only 1.99€ in Germany? It’s 3.50€ in Switzerland McDonalds.
2) I dunno, Schubert looks like someone who ate at McDonalds everyday. Especially at 1.99 a sandwich.
I fail to see how this contributes to the decline of Western culture……
Harmless silliness.
This kind of incongruity can be very effective. There is a scene in the recent Robert DeNiro film “Dirty Grandpa” in which the final chorus of Beethoven’s 9th, mvt. 4 is used as accompaniment to the epic escalation of a beer-chugging contest. It’s crude, it’s puerile – and it works.
Beethoven will certainly survive, and so will Schubert.
Yum!
Maybe McDondalds got the idea from Samsung washing machines:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYNWWfEQRq4
what about this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtctND-MFoE
Almost as weird, or maybe more weird, are the washer and dryer we purchased a couple of months ago. When a cycle finishes, it plays Die Forelle in its entirety (one verse) with a rather cheesy tag at the end. This version is from YouTube and it’s not our model, but it sounds about the same. (Maybe because Die Forelle is in the public domain?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCaaMt4lrU0
Borderline cute.