Like you we try to ignore banner ads as much as possible but some are unavoidable and the VV Brown campaign running on Popjustice at the end of last week was pretty great. It featured Vanessa and her band performing a song in a box. (IN A BOX!)
Here's the banner as a YouTube clip.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJVuScDPGME
The person who posted the ad/clip to YouTube ("it was such a ridiculously brilliant viral marketing idea that I felt the need to redistribute it on Youtube") has somehow managed to remove the graphics (like 'SOUND') from the video — almost as if they were somehow able to get at a different version of the banner, perhaps by being involved with its production in some way. But there is no mention of this in their YouTube writeup so we suppose they probably just digitally removed the 'SOUND' graphic from each frame. That's dedication!
The whole art vs commerce thing is very complicated so just to clear things up:
1. Adverts in pop songs: bad.
2. Pop songs in adverts: good.
A Popjustice viewer has also sent in a screengrab of a similar (!) banner ad by amusing 'punk' band The King Blues, who are signed to the same label as VV Brown.
You can tell The King Blues are a punk band because they are graffiti-ing the wall ("I think we're going to need a bigger boat party on the Thames" etc etc).
You might not have heard of The King Blues before this but if you've been FWD-ed or tweeted anything recently along the lines of "going to war to prevent war was the most stupid thing I ever heard" you and/or the sender are in the middle of one of the band's clever 'viral' campaigns.
Tell you what, here's something you can FWD to your mates:
in order to flog music via a major label
is the least punk rock thing I've ever heard.
Pass it on LOL!!!! :(