Coles bags Status Quo for latest ad campaign
SUPERMARKET giant Coles has recruited British rockers Status Quo to help shoppers save money on their grocery bill.
SUPERMARKET giant Coles has recruited British rockers Status Quo to help shoppers save money on their grocery bill.
In the new TV ad, the band change the lyrics to their 1974 UK number one hit Down Down to "Down down, prices are down'' in line with Coles's advertising tag line.
The band - who have sold over 110 million albums since 1967 - also play guitars in the shape of the Coles trademark giant red hands.
To celebrate the Quo campaign, Coles will sell replicas of the red hand guitars in their supermarkets throughout Australia.
"When you need a helping hand, count on the savings of that Coles big red hand - down and down and down they go,'' frontman Francis Rossi sings in the ad.
And in an extended version of the ad posted on YouTube by Coles, the band's members are asked, "You don't think people will find this annoying, do you?''
Guitarist Rick Parfitt looks into the camera and slyly notes, "Saving money is never annoying.''
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Down Down has been used in the Coles campaign for the last two years, but without Status Quo's involvement
The band recorded the ad at London's Abbey Road studio and have already posted a "special version'' of the song on their own official website.
Long time Australian Quo fan Karen Freedman said today, "I love the Quo but this is truly awful. I do hope they spend the money well though.''
Status Quo are the latest celebrities to endorse Coles following rocker Normie Rowe and comedian Dawn French's Fly Buys campaign.
Rowe received flak for using his 1965 hit Shakin' All Over in a "no added hormones'' Coles campaign for meat earlier this year.
At the time, Rowe said it was a chance for heritage acts to get increasingly rare TV exposure.
"What were they really complaining about? That I sold out? That I was singing out of tune?
"It was never going to be an art piece. It sold more meat products for Coles than in Coles's history over that four-week period it was on air. It did its job,'' he said.
The new Status Quo ad was created by Melbourne's Big Red Agency, which took over the Coles account in 2010.