Advertisers will pay big money to license pop tunes for use in commercials because they want to tap into the easy recognition that a well known song provides. Pop music may also trigger a feeling of identification for a particular demographic (no doubt the use of 80's tunes is meant to target the Gen-X'ers). And if the songs lyrics connect to the product in some way, so much the better. "What's New Pussycat" was used to sell cat food, "Sugar Sugar" was used to sell artificial sweetner, etc. etc.

Some pop songs make for questionable choices, though. Iggy Pop's "Lust For Life" and the Violent Femmes "Blister In The Sun" both contain drug references, but were used in very visible advertising campaigns (who listens to the words, right?) Then there's the times when the use of a song to push a product is just . . . weird. Currently there's a advertisement that uses a re-recorded version of the 1984 hit "We're Not Gonna Take It" to sell birth control pills.

The song was originally an anthem of teen rebellion against oppressive parents, and . . . well, I can see how birth control might play a role in such an insurrection. But I don't think that's the message that the advertiser is trying to send. But whatever the connection is, the song was the biggest U.S. hit for the band who first recorded it, what was the name of that band?

Bonus Question: I can't help notice that the birth control pills mentioned above go by the name 'Yaz,' and I wonder if the company contemplated licensing a song by the legendary 80's synthpop duo Yaz. Of course, that might have been even stranger, as many of the groups best songs are rather melancholy. But I guess that didn't bother J.C. Penny, who used a re-recorded Yaz tune for a Mother's Day commercial last year (thus taking melancholy to maudlin, glad I missed it). The song used was the group's first ever single, and it made it to 2 on the U.K. charts back in 1982. What was the name of the song?