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What Happened to the Jingle?
Jingles were everything once upon a time — but they’re dying, and this time it isn’t because of millennials
Living in Oklahoma City, there are two things I can count on during the holiday season. The first is that parking downtown will be impossible to find because holiday pop-ups are everywhere. The second is that my television will start crooning out a local holiday anthem: A fifty-year-old jingle for a local jeweler.
“Jewelry is the gift to give
Cuz it’s the gift that will live and live
So give the gift you know can’t fail
From BC Clark’s anniversary sale!”
If you were to walk into a public space of any sort in central Oklahoma, you’ll find the locals not only know the song but will gleefully sing it for you. Loudly.
However, the BC Clark jingle is more than just an earworm. It was created in 1956 and has continued with unprecedented persistence. There is a theory that the song is the longest continuously running jingle in American media.
Megan Mullaly, an Oklahoma native, sang the song on Jay Leno in 2001. NBC Nightly News did a story on it in 2016 featuring country superstar Blake Shelton. In modern terms, Oklahoma City’s BC Clark’s jingle has achieved ultimate virality.
The jingle works. Ask an Oklahoma City dweller about jewelry stores, and BC Clark’s is likely to make the list somewhere. Although the jeweler itself is not the most popular in the city, it is perhaps the most memorable, mostly due to a song with more life than the industry itself.
Jingles were once the gold standard in advertising. Find the perfectly singable, memorable, ear wormable jingle, and your brand was set to become the next standard in your market.
What’s the best part of waking up? Folger’s in your cup. Admit it; you sang that. The only reason fully two-thirds of America knows how to spell bologna is because of the Oscar Mayer song.
Yet, in modern advertising, pop, rock, and country hits provide the background track to visually stunning ads. Ads that haven’t hit the airwaves in years or even decades are still culturally relevant, relatable, and remembered. So why has the advertising industry moved away from the jingle?
