Banjos go commercial

March 2010

The sound of the banjo seems an unusual choice for British television adverts. The general public usually associate the instrument with the psychotic hillbillies from Deliverance, nevertheless advertisers across the country are turning to the 5-string to promote products ranging from butter to supermarket loyalty schemes.

Banjos and adverts have of course gone hand in hand for years, with Flatt & Scruggs’ endorsement of Martha White now considered a fundamental part of bluegrass history. Their theme for the flour is arguably one of the most famous songs of the genre.

UK companies are now catching on to the idea with recent examples including an understated twang selling Magners cider, Mark Addy promoting Tesco Clubcard to what sounds like Cripple Creek, and – unbelievably – an Always sanitary towel riding a Bucking Bronco ride to the tune of Old Joe Clark.

A couple of years ago, Anchor Butter ran a series of five adverts which all featured the music of Leon Hunt. They must have been popular as web searches for information on this music have sent the ukbluegrass hit counter soaring.

Away from bluegrass we’ve noticed Mumford & Sons’ Little Lion Man being used by lastminute.com, and Suggs can be seen strumming a banjo uke in a promotion for direct.gov.uk.

A bit of googling reveals that this isn’t actually a new idea on these shores. If you can remember the 1970s you may also recall Banjo chocolate bars and their accompanying advert.

And finally, although it doesn’t really fit into the bracket of UK banjo adverts, John Hartford once promoted milk with this very mellow 1960s commercial.