Suspiciously Similar Song / Advertising

• In many Kellogg's Corn Pops commercials there is music highly similar to the Jaws theme.
• United Way has a PSA with music that sounds a lot like "Viva La Vida" by Coldplay.
• This cleaner commercial from Argentina uses a song that sounds suspiciously similar to Tank! from Cowboy Bebop.
• A car salesplace in central Florida called Courtesy uses the Ghostbusters theme, but with changed lyrics, in their ads. The lyrics? "Need a car, truck or van? Need a car? Call Courtesy!"
  • As does Auto Nation from the North Texas area: "If you need a car, truck or van / Who you gonna call? / Auto Nation!" Originally, back when they were still known as Bankston, they used the song verbatim before switching to a remixed version around 2012. Both businesses can get away with this due to North American parody laws, which allow use of the original melody.
  • Ditto with this commercial for Coat Master paints, a brand of paint in the Philippines which has long since lost to the sands of time.
• A commercial for gold coins has a recognizable parody of Morricone's "Ecstasy of Gold" (Tuco in the graveyard), while yelling the word "GOLD!" repeatedly.
• The commercial for Boysen's Roofguard paints used a theme tune that sounded vaguely like the opening music from Voltes V, which was at the time co-opted for Bubble Gang's Parody Religion segment Ang Dating Doon.
• Frito-Lay created a soundalike for Tom Waits' "Step Right Up" as part of a Doritos marketing campaign. It was close enough that Tom Waits called his lawyer, and ended up making more money in damages than he'd made from all the albums he sold up to that point.
• For some reason, the theme from the Old Spice commercials opens with two bars of "Scotland the Brave" and then goes off in a completely different direction.
• There is an American Express ad with a backing track that sounded suspiciously like Electric Light Orchestra's "Mr. Blue Sky".
• Commercials for proactiv.com, which sells facial cleansers, have a song in the background that sounds suspiciously like Bruce Hornsby's "The Way It Is".
• The Danup ad in Mexico features a Suspiciously Similar Song to "Good Vibrations" from The Beach Boys.
  • As do those Aussie commercials for the Good Guys.
• A chicken noodle soup commercial included a song which has a chorus very similar to the part of Green Day's "American Idiot".
  • Speaking of "American Idiot", a Gmail video featuring viewers' submissions...
• The music used in a local Public Service Announcement about water conservation sounds exactly like The Monkees' "Daydream Believer". They get around it by having voices sing a wordless riff every once in a while that presumably counts as an original melody, but if you know the lyrics you can sing along with the music without missing a beat at all. The structure and chords are identical.
• Here's an interesting one: Listen to E.S. Posthumus's song "Pompeii", used in quite a few movie trailers. Then listen to Pfeifer Broz' "DNA Reaction", a song made especially for movie trailers — particularly the latter half.
  • And then listen to Immediate Music's "Avenger".
• Now watch this: here's "He's A Pirate" from Pirates of the Caribbean...
  • And here's Racketeers by Two Steps From Hell...
  • ...and X-Ray Dog with their Pirates' Curse. Seriously, both those companies apparently thought that sooner or later someone's gonna make a pirate movie and will need a recognizable music for the trailer licensed quickly.
• There is a Kraft Dinner ad with a teen listening to an MP3 player. The player is playing the first few notes from "American Woman" by The Guess Who over and over again.
  • Another Kraft Dinner commercial uses background music that sounds similar to an instrumental version of Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
• The Mighty Mighty Bosstones sued Pizza Hut over a commercial that used an instrumental backing that was suspiciously similar to "The Impression That I Get" at the height of the song's popularity.
• A commercial series from Fido has a light and breezy background piece that sounds strikingly similar to Chrono Trigger's "Guardia Millenial Fair".
• In the Philippines, a jingle clearly based on "The Lazy Song" by Bruno Mars was used for a liquor commercial. It's either the composers did live up to the original song's premise and "took inspiration" from it, or they made a similar tune to Mars' simply because of his popularity.^note It helps that Bruno Mars is of Filipino descent, if that's any indication.
• A commercial for Nido Junior milk urging parents to "check the label" definitely needs no checking as to who originally made the song used.
• At least in Sweden, this was a common practice in the mid-to-late 90's. In 1995, a pasta commercial featured a score very similar to Scatman John's "Scatman", as well as visuals in the style of the music video. One year later, an ad for a sailing company used a Suspiciously Similar Song to Peter André's "Mysterious Girl". Finally, the chorus of Doctor Bombay's "Calcutta (Taxi, Taxi, Taxi)" (1998) became the "100 000, Uppsala Taxi" radio jingle in 2000 or so (and remained in use for many years, to the point where most people had probably forgotten the source of inspiration).
• The music in the notorious "You Wouldn't Steal A Handbag" anti-piracy bumper is a ripoff of "No Man Army" by The Prodigy. Ironically.
• NBC is airing a romantic comedy film it made or Hollywood made. Time to drag out the wacky Suspiciously Similar Song to Katrina & the Waves's "Walking on Sunshine" with the most obvious key change in history to promote said film. Very common in the 1990s.
• At the Apple Computer 1984 shareholders meeting, they played a corporate video, "We Are Apple", which rips off the song "What a Feeling", and also includes the lyrics "What a Feeling" in the song itself!
  • This is incredibly common for company instructional or inspirational videos. Circa 1999, KFC employees were subject to Colonel Sanders voiced by Randy Quaid getting down to "Here Comes the Colonel!" (to the tune of "I've Got the Power!" by Snap!) before a video lecture about food safety.
• An ad for the Australian version of the dating site eHarmony has a Suspiciously Similar Song to "Where Is The Love?" playing behind it.
• An ad for Sandals Resorts uses a suspiciously similar version of Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream."
• An Air Force Reserve ad aired during the 2010 Super Bowl used an instrumental that was noticeably similar to The White Stripes "Fell In Love With A Girl".
• The trailer for the film Army of Darkness uses a Suspiciously Similar Song to Metallica's "Sad But True", "Holier than Thou", and "Orion".
• A Best Buy commercial had a song with the lyrics "I'm free, I'm free, not just a puppet on a string, no ties to anything", which was suspiciously similar to the Cowsills' "The Rain, The Park, and Other Things".
• One Dodge commercial used a guitar song that sounded suspiciously similar to "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" by Paul Simon.
• One pawn shop ad closely parodies Run DMC's "King Of Rock" as "King Of Gold" - the chief difference being a slightly altered guitar riff.
• This Specsavers ad features popular UK kids' character Postman Pat. However, the music in the background isn't actually the original theme everyone knows- and if one listens it's melodically not that similar. However, in the background of a short ad, the style is similar enough that most people probably won't notice- which was probably the intention and still qualifies it for this trope.
• An ad for Hidden Valley Ranch used a mostly instrumental (save for some wordless vocals) Suspiciously Similar Song to The Monkees' "Pleasant Valley Sunday". Since the song has the word "valley" in the title and chorus, it's possible that they originally set out to use a full-on Repurposed Pop Song version.
• The trailer for Guvyer II: Dark Hero has a Suspiciously Similar Song to Trevor Jones's score to The Last Of The Mohicans.
• A commercial by T-mobile uses a Suspiciously Similar Song to Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours" in the background. It's on the piano, and just a few notes are changed here and there.
• The actual brand escapes memory, but one auto maker has a commercial which uses a soft arrangement of Tool's "Vicarious".
• An ad for Ready Brek had a Suspiciously Similar Song to Loituma playing in the background.
• A post-Billy Mays Oxi Clean ad (featuring Anthony "Sully" Sullivan) plays a Suspiciously Similar Song to "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" by Pat Benetar through the spot. They used the song in another Oxi Clean ad.
• Although [adult swim]'s Flash game Robot Unicorn Attack is infamous for using "Always" by Erasure, the TV commercial for the iPhone port plays only the song's chords.
• This Yahoo Mail's World's Greatest Dad commercial is supiciously similar to A-Punk by Vampire Weekend.
• This ad announcing the release of "V" is for Vengeance uses a Suspiciously Similar Song to "ABC" by The Jackson 5.
• In this trailer for Franklyn, listen to the music from 0:49 onwards. Now listen to "In the House in a Heartbeat" from 28 Weeks Later. They are almost, but not quite, identical.
• The song in the infamous Quizno's Spongmonkies commercial sounds similar to "Do You Love Me" by The Contours.
  • It was actually a rewrite of "We Love the Moon" from the previous Spongmonkies video.
• This Audi trailer has been noted as being suspiciously similar to Chrysler's Imported from Detroit Super Bowl ad, right down to the Suspiciously Similar Song to Eminem's "Lose Yourself".
• There's a Lowe's commercial about paint which has a Suspiciously Similar Song "Use Somebody" by Kings of Leon.
• This UK advert for Andrex toilet tissue opens with what seems to be a Suspiciously Similar Song of "Barbra Streisand" by Duck Sauce.
• The Victoria Bitter ads in Australia used a Suspiciously Similar Song to the theme from The Magnificent Seven.
• Fricker's restaurant in Cincinnati is using a Suspiciously Similar Song to Back In Black in their radio ads.
• One Dish TV ad featured a Suspiciously Similar Song to "Bohemian Like You" by The Dandy Warhols.
  • Another one that advertises "Dishperks" (a rewards program exclusive to Dish Network users) features a song that sounds exactly like the Kelly Clarkson song "Stronger", but without the vocals.
• There's a commercial for McDonald's that features kids moving their Chicken McNuggets along like an assembly line, that uses a Suspiciously Similar Song to Raymond Scott's "Powerhouse B".
• This recruiting ad for the U.S. Navy is clearly capitalizing on the success of Top Gun, complete with a painfully obvious ripoff of Kenny Loggins' "Danger Zone."
• Is it just me, or does the theme in Xfinity's On Demand sound oddly similar to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' "American Girl"?
• VW used a Beach House soundalike from a firm called Sniffy Dog, because Beach House had said no to certain sorts of commercials. It got a Pitchfork article all about it.
• A Huggies or Pampers ad has a song that sounds like the start of "Give Your Heart a Break" by Demi Lovato but looped to make a new song.
• The song in the Pack It lunch bag infomercial sounds a lot like Social Distortion's "Story of My Life".
• The background music in this commercial for Ashley Furniture sounds like Nicki Minaj's Super Bass in reverse.
• A Cortizone 10 commercial features a song that's very similar to "Ho Hey" by The Lumineers.
• The Billy Mays Kaboom informercials have what sounds like a Suspiciously Similar Song to Fatboy Slim's "Praise You".
• A commercial for the Chevrolet Tahoe in 2006, directed towards a more urban audience, had a song that sounded suspiciously close to the riffs of Kenny G and Earth, Wind & Fire's cover of Outkast's "Way You Move", popular at the time.
• "Gingery and Furry", the duet between Maurice Wigglethorpe-Throom of Compare The Market and Aleksandr Orlov of Compare the Meerkat, has a tune that's not quite "Ebony and Ivory" by Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney.
• A Brazilian TV ad for Chery (a Chinese car manufacturer) has a song that sounds very similar to Peter Bjorn and John's "Young Folks", with the exact same drumbeat, but a different (but just similar enough) whistling melody. Never mind that an earlier car ad in Brazil had used the same song (albeit it was The Kooks' version).
• A Time-Warner Cable ad selling a football package used a song that is quite similar to the NFL Films song known as "Round Up".
• A Yoshi's New Island commercial has a song that sounds like Haim's "Go Slow".
• A 2014 President's Choice advert for one of their lemon-based Black Label items used a VERY eerily similar song to Lorde's "Team".
  • Seems to have been a popular tune to knock off that year; see also this ad for the Big Fish Casino mobile game.
• Watch this 2014 advert for Diet Coke and try not to be reminded of Pharrell's "Happy".
• The "Gonna party" song from CBS's 1987-88 Saturday morning season sounds similar in some ways to "Where's the Party" by Madonna.^note From her album, True Blue, which was released the previous year.
• The melody of the jingle for Chicken Tonight sauce sounds similar to the chorus of "See You In Your Dreams" by KISS.
• An "Adventures of Jimmy" ad for Sun Country Airlines features a song whose main riff is an almost note-for-note copy of "Going for Gold" by Shed Seven.
• Honda uses two piano notes that sound like the second and third of the NBC chimes.
• This commercial for a Brazilian college features a song that sounds uncannily similar to Demi Lovato's "Confident".
• One ad for Lunchables had characters washing cars to a song that wasn't quite "Carwash" by Rose Royce.
• Commercials for the Simply Fit Board use a ripoff of "Wipeout" by The Surfaris.
• An advert by a New Zealand political party used stock music (titled "Eminem Esque", we must add) that was a soundalike of Eminem's "Lose Yourself". However, in 2017, a court ruled that the party was guilty of copyright infringement of the original song, and were fined $600,000, even though they had properly licensed the stock piece.
• The now-defunct Schuylkill Mall's 1990's commercial jingle was similar to "Cecilia" by Simon & Garfunkel.
• This commercial for Furuta starring Furutan uses a song that sounds similar to the first ending of HuGtto! Pretty Cure, "Hugtto! Pretty Cure, Future Dreamer". Coincidentally, Furuta has made several candy products that tie into the Pretty Cure series.
• From 2018, British tea brand PG Tips sponsored various early evening shows on Channel 5, the music used in their sponsorship ads being rather obviously based on the Ending Theme from The Great British Bake Off.
• A Hoveround ad has a song similar to "Toot Toot Chugga Chugga Big Red Car" by The Wiggles.
• This 1992 Little Caesars commercial features a song called "Pizza! Pizza!" that is basically a faster version of "Wooly Bully" by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs. The first verses of each song start out with the phrases "Hatty told Matty about some pizza she saw" and "Matty told Hatty about a thing she saw"
• Canadian ads for PartyCasino feature a song that sounds like Billie Eilish's "Bad Guy" but with the notes shuffled.
• The melody for the Ashley Madison commercial jingle sounds similar to that of the chorus from the Climax Blues Band's "Couldn't Get It Right".
• A 2020 Colgate ad references the Dougie dance craze of 2010. Two women dougie to an off-beat instrumental of "Teach Me How to Dougie".
• A commercial for a bingo app has a young woman styled to resemble Meghan Trainor sing "It's All About the Game!" to background music that owes a lot to "All About That Bass".
• The Quebec moving company Demenagement La Capitale has a radio jingle that sounds similar to "It's All Been Done" by Barenaked Ladies.
• The jingle featured in this 90s computer ad is a blatant parody of Alice Deejay's "Better Off Alone", though the backing track isn't exactly the same if one listens closely.
• This "No Talking or Phones" Warning from Landmark Theatres, made to promote the then-upcoming season of Mad Men, uses a backing track that is similar in feel to "Clocks" by Coldplay.
• An anti fox-hunting PSA made by the League Against Cruel Sports features music that heavily resembles O Fortuna. Regardless, it still sounds very badass.
• A commercial for the video game Bomberman 64 sounds very much like the Spider-Man theme.
• This commercial for the now-defunct Uniwide Warehouse Club chain features "Celebration" by Kool & the Gang with lyrics extolling the supermarket chain's virtues at the time.
• There was a period in the late 1990s when Steven Wilson made music for adverts. Early edits of the adverts would be set to an existing piece of music which the advertisers usually couldn’t afford the rights to, so Wilson’s job was to record a composition that was similar, but not so similar that they could be sued for plagiarism. For example, compare the music from this advert for The Observer to Massive Attack’s “Inertia Creeps”. In one instance, the music for an M&Ms ad prompted legal action on behalf of Yello, but it was ruled that Wilson’s piece was just different enough for it be safe.
• This anti-fox hunting Public Service Announcement uses music that sounds almost identical to "O Fortuna".
• One commercial for Children's Advil has background music that sounds similar to the second theme song for Rugrats.
• The Huggies diapers commercial that has a song "We all need a hug in the morning..." sounds incredibly similar to "My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean".