Corporate Rock

[Nyarlathotep]

I guess this really was inevitable.

Radio 1 pulls 'promotional' track for brand of hair gel

Helen Pidd
Saturday May 5, 2007

Guardian
Radio 1 was last night forced to withdraw a song some of its top DJs had been playing after it emerged the track appeared to be a thinly disguised advert for a brand of hair gel.

The electro track called Style, Attract, Play by Shocka featuring Honeyshot has featured on programmes by Judge Jules and Annie Nightingale in recent months.

Style, Attract Play is the slogan for the hair product range Shockwaves. Honeyshot was created by the advertising firm Saatchi & Saatchi as a pop group that can be bought "off the shelf" by companies to covertly promote their brands.

When Radio 1 was informed yesterday by the Guardian about the song's origins, a spokesman said: "The track was presented to Radio 1 in the usual way, via a legitimate promotions company and we were not aware that it was a promotional tool for a hair product.

"As this is created by an advertising agency with the sole purpose of selling this product, and we do not play adverts, it is not something we would play again."

Other stations including Kiss and XFM have also played the song.

Initially, the Shockwaves press office said it knew nothing about the song and its relationship to the brand. But a spokeswoman called back later to admit "there may be a link" and would confirm when she knew more.

Several hours later a different spokeswoman said she could not speak to anyone at Procter & Gamble, the company which owns Shockwaves, and therefore could not comment further.

Honeyshot were put together by Saatchi & Saatchi via an advert in The Stage newspaper. After the launch, Brand Republic magazine described the band as being "the most disposable incarnation of pop in a post reality-TV world".

No one from Saatchi & Saatchi was available for comment yesterday.

But in an interview with the Sunday Times last year Andrew Wilkie, managing director of Gum, the company's content division which created the band, said that Honeyshot offered a wealth of opportunity.

He said: "It could be as simple as sponsorship of a tour through to clothing that could be worn, drinks, cosmetics - all that stuff is possible."

Peter Robinson, who drew attention to the band on his influential pop music Popjustice website, described the idea as a "new low" in cynical marketing.

"It's risky - if I realised I'd been cynically duped like this I'd be even less trusting of the brand," he said.

PR expert Julian Henry, who runs Henry's House agency, said: "I think it's a crass and slightly crap attempt to hoodwink the public and the press."

[paazin]

Ooh, I bet Advertising Age will have an interesting article about this