It’s the gift that keeps on giving – the heartwarming ads that are released this time of year, particularly by British retailers.
The ads have been a staple of my blog since the beginning, and this year will be no different. My plan is to share several Christmas ads over the next few weeks, one at a time.
The one for today’s post is actually from 2018, but I just found out about it a couple of weeks ago, courtesy of my sister.
The commercial is from France, and features Bouyges Telecom.
I found it to be a heartwarming commercial, and I discovered some fun facts, courtesy of Wikipedia, about the song featured in the ad.
“Come and Get Your Love” is a song by Native American rock band Redbone. The song peaked at number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on April 13, 1974. It spent 18 weeks in the Top 40 and landed as the fourth-most popular song on the Hot 100 for 1974. The single was certified gold by the RIAA on April 22, 1974, which indicates that it had shipped over a half-million copies in North America. The song is Redbone’s highest-charting single.
Now here’s the interesting part.
In France, the single peaked at number 177 on the singles sales chart (physical sales + downloads) in 2017. The following year, Redbone’s version featured in a Christmas 2018 media advertising campaign from Bouygues, the French telecommunications company, and the song soon rose to the top of the pop charts. It entered the downloads chart’s Top 10, and reached number one on the singles sales chart at the end of the year. It also peaked at number 20 on the singles chart (downloads plus streaming) during the last week of the year.
I’m not really sure why it was as high as number 177 in 2017, but it’s easy to see the effect that the commercial had on the popularity of the song in 2018.
I’m sure Redbone would have never guessed that one of their songs would be part of a French Christmas commercial 45 years later.
It’s a small world after all.
Happy Holidays…
It is indeed, a very small world.
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And seems to be getting smaller.
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I like this!! It’s a great dancing song.
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It almost makes me wanna dance!
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Reminds me of Sixto Rodriguez, an American pop singer from Detroit who was never a big star in the USA, but somehow became a superstar in South Africa. And all without his knowledge for many years, until someone brought it to his attention.
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That sounds like a story I may have to look into a bit. And it may end up on my blog someday 😀
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There was a 2012 documentary about it, called “Searching for Sugar Man” that won an Academy Award:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Searching_for_Sugar_Man
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Thanks for the tip; will definitely look into the documentary.
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Many people have taken to this ad (I’m one of them). I have seen it in a half dozen places in the last two weeks, which seems odd because I don’t have much recollection of it from past years. It’s a great story about the history of the song on the music charts.
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It’s funny how things seem to have a life of their own and pop up after a couple of years.
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Are you still getting views of your tire post?
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Indeed I am! For the month of November it was the most viewed post.
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That is bizarre. Occasionally, I’ll have a bunch of views of an old post from out of the blue that makes me wonder, but never for any sustained period of time like that.
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I can’t explain it either I’m not sure if it’s the tires that attracts the views or the mention of Legos.
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The connection between father and son with the way the song was handed down to the next generation is very heartwarming. It gets me in a feel good Christmas mood. I didn’t realize Come and Get Your Love was preformed by a Native American group.
The commercial also got my attention because it has parallels with the cool second scene from the movie Guardians of the Galaxy. On the planet Morag, the main character, Peter Quill, is strolling through a cave in search of an object that would become the centerpiece of the movie, an ancient and powerful Infinity Stone. Quill proceeds through the cave while dancing solo to Come and Get Your Love which is playing on a Sony Walkman that was a gift from his mother. As a reader of comic books in grade school and beyond, I’m a fan of recent movies about the heroes of Marvel and D.C. comics.
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I also read that the song was used in the movie avengers: endgame in 2019.
I agree it was a heartwarming video, no surprise that was so popular.
My oldest son he’s been a lifelong fan of comic books.
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I never imagined that comic books would ever become popular movies but am glad they did.
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Stan Lee was a genius…
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I too love the Chrismas ads, Jim.. This is one I hadn’t heard b4.. . Love it!
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It ticks off all the right boxes for me. Good story, good music, and it made me cry.
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Thanks – a feature I look forward to and a reminder not to fast forward through the ads if I have recorded a programme.
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I’m hoping there will be lots of great ads to choose from this year!
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Aw… I can’t view the video 😦
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You might find it by searching for Bouygues commercial. I think you would like it.
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Thanks I will ❤
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This was a wonderful start to your upcoming posts of Christmas advertising. I love seeing these commercials from other countries and the holiday spirit they convey. Good to have you back my friend!
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I am a sucker for these schmaltzy, feel good commercials!
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great choice, so poignant, it made me tear up a little. I had no idea about the background of the song and your info filled in some blanks for me. interesting how a song can suddenly skyrocket when put in a different light. I love your series of Christmas commercials and this is a great one to kick it off this year –
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Thanks, Beth. I just hope there’s lots of commercials to choose from this year!
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i’m sure there will be
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Fingers crossed!
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Interesting history and the power of marketing, but dammit, this commercial made me cry!
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You and me both!
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I’d not seen the ad before, until the other day when a friend shared it on Facebook. It’s quite cute, isn’t it, and good for Redbone’s pension fund.
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I’m sure it was a nice surprise windfall for Redbone.
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I bet it was. I know they were more successful over there – here they were one-hit wonders.
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I think they only had a couple singles that made the charts, which I guess is more than most.
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Fair point – many bands would love to have that on their CV.
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Oh yes! This is a great, warm fuzzy, tear to the eyes commercial!
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indeed it is!
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Thanks Jim. Keeping well, I hope. The stookie (nice wee Scots word for you) off?
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Thanks for the new word! I’ll have to try it out on my wife (the word that is, not the Stookie itself) I I’ll be wearing it for a few more weeks.
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Haha, take care jim
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Cheers!
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Love it!
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I’ve seen this ad circulating lately. I think it’s very moving and absolutely terrific 🙂 Happy holidays Jim.
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Same to you, Debby!
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Thank you 🙂
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