VOL. XVI, NO. 9
FEBRUARY 28, 1975
Can Jingles Make You Rich?
By KATHY COOPER
It is really amazing how much television and radio advertising affects people - especially school kids. Everyone walks around the school with jingles in their minds.
Take McDonald's "two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun." People go around the school trying to see who can say it in four seconds or less just so they can win a t‑shirt and more.
Sometimes in the cafeteria that is all one can hear - a chorus of McDonald's catchy theme. Amazing!
Then there is WMAQ and their catchy little item, "WMAQ's going to make me rich." It is ridiculous. People call up their friends and hear the person on the other end of the line go through the WMAQ thing. It gets to be boring after a time.
Of course, there is always those on‑the‑air contests that go on all through the day and night. WYEN has their trivia contest. All you have to do is know the answer to the question the disc jockey gives and BINGO! You win a fee prize.
It is really amazing how much television and radio advertising affects people - especially school kids. Everyone walks around the school with jingles in their minds.
Take McDonald's "two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun." People go around the school trying to see who can say it in four seconds or less just so they can win a t‑shirt and more.
Sometimes in the cafeteria that is all one can hear - a chorus of McDonald's catchy theme. Amazing!
Then there is WMAQ and their catchy little item, "WMAQ's going to make me rich." It is ridiculous. People call up their friends and hear the person on the other end of the line go through the WMAQ thing. It gets to be boring after a time.
Of course, there is always those on‑the‑air contests that go on all through the day and night. WYEN has their trivia contest. All you have to do is know the answer to the question the disc jockey gives and BINGO! You win a fee prize.
It isn't surprising that WYEN's lines are busy during the time they are waiting for that tenth or fifteenth caller to give the correct answer. It is really hard to get a personal call through at that time because everyone is trying to get through to the radio station.
The two big rock AM stations, WLS and WCFL, had and have, I suppose, contests going on at the same time to the effect that the disc jockey would make a call and ask what radio station you listen to or what your favorite one is. If you answered the caller wrongly, too bad there is always next time.
All of this is very wise thinking on the part of the advertiser. If you stop and think about it, you can realize that what they are doing is very basic.
They spend only a little money compared to what it would cost to have an all‑out advertising campaign. Then they promote these contests so that people will do their advertising for them. A brilliant plan, isn't it? Think about it.
The two big rock AM stations, WLS and WCFL, had and have, I suppose, contests going on at the same time to the effect that the disc jockey would make a call and ask what radio station you listen to or what your favorite one is. If you answered the caller wrongly, too bad there is always next time.
All of this is very wise thinking on the part of the advertiser. If you stop and think about it, you can realize that what they are doing is very basic.
They spend only a little money compared to what it would cost to have an all‑out advertising campaign. Then they promote these contests so that people will do their advertising for them. A brilliant plan, isn't it? Think about it.
