Mike McLaughlin wrote:

>What do you think about classical music being used in commercials?  On one
>hand, it offends me to hear some of the best music ever composed turned
>into commercial jingles to sell soft drinks, makeup and electronics.

But it's also worked the other way.  A few years ago, I posted to this
List an item someone from another, non-music list sent to me--at the
time when the Taco Bell chihuahua was a smoldering cultural icon, a
classical public radio station in Texas put up some promotional billboards
using a similar dog with the line "Yo quiero Pachelbel!"

>On the other, I think that it can help introduce more people to the
>music, and that if the classical meme has any chance of surviving in
>the modern world, maybe this is the only way.  I also think that, while
>it may introduce people to the music, it may also cheapen their view
>of it.  It's bad enough most people already seem to feel that classical
>music is some snobbish ancient relic, but if they associate the "Blue
>Danube Waltz" with Avon, that's another matter entirely.

Well, I think the risks are there, and they have to be accepted if one
wants to promote the genre using "modern cultural" means.  But as in
anything else, the responses of different people are likely to be as
diverse as their individual tastes.

Bill