Status Quo Embarrass Themselves For Supermarket Advert

In some timely coincidence with our latest opinion piece yesterday on advertising and music, veteran rockers Status Quo have delivered an absolute pearler for the ‘embarassing’ category.

The Music Network first dug up the news that the English rock band have been wooed by supermarket chain Coles to feature in the latest advert for their “Down, Down” campaign.

The Australian supermarket chain has already been criticised for its annoying ads but now Coles has employed Status Quo to make their own definitive version of the agitating jingle.

You can skip ahead to the video and watch the cheesy results for yourself, but essentially the three-minute commercial features the band reworking their 1975 hit, “Down Down” – lyrics and all – to reflect a passion for cheaper retail opportunities and grocery bargains.

A choice sample of the reworked words goes: “Down, down, prices are down/When you need a helping hand/ Count on the savings of that Coles big red hand.”

The commercial features the keyboard player and drummer playing while wearing a foam pair of Coles’ distinctive big red hands, while the guitarists have gone one better and replaced their instruments with those in the shape of the pointy marketing signs.

The YouTube page touts that the clip is a special ‘extended version’ with an edited cut to go out for TV advertising shortly, also enthusiastically claiming that fans to “pick up your own Big Red Hand Guitar in store!” Hurry though, they’re sure to go quickly…

See if you can make it through the full three cringe-worthy minutes of the Status Quo/Coles union below: