Beatles Fans Dump On Luvs' 'Love' Diaper Ad
http://www.wpxi.com/enter...etail.html

Much to the chagrin of Fab Four fans, a classic Beatles song about peace is now being used to sell diapers.

Procter and Gamble is using "All You Need Is Love" in its Luvs diaper campaign. P&G spokeswoman Lisa Jester won't say how much the company paid for the song, which was re-recorded by a studio group.

Jester said that the commercial tested well with parents. But it has angered Beatles fans, who are claiming it's a sacrilege to use a song popular with Vietnam War opponents during the current Iraq war and to sell diapers.

Sony and pop singer Michael Jackson hold the copyright to the song, and they don't need permission from the surviving Beatles or their heirs to license the song.

A spokesman for Paul McCartney declined comment.

Target is currently using "Hello Goodbye" in its commercials, but it hasn't appeared to have caused as much a stir as the Luvs ad.

Written by John Lennon and McCartney, "All You Need is Love" was recorded by The Beatles in 1967. A performance of the song was broadcast live on June 25, 1967, to 26 countries worldwide.

Michael Jackson allows Beatles song to be used in diaper commercial
http://www.showbizspy.com...ommercial/
Popstar Michael Jackson has licensed the use of Beatles song ‘All you need is love’ for a series of TV commercials for a diaper company.

Michael Jackson still owns stake in the music publishing company Sony/ATV, which owns the rights to the Beatles’ lucrative back catalog.

But the company’s decision to license ‘All You Need Is Love’ to pharmaceutical and cosmetics firm Proctor & Gamble is a “surprise” to John Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono, because they had always given her advance notice of their intentions in the past.

The song will appear in adverts for the Luvs branded diapers, according to the New York Daily News.

'All You Need is Luvs?' No we don't say Beatles fans
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/mu...ml?ref=rss

Beatles fans are fuming about the latest use of a Fab Four song, All You Need is Love, in a diaper commercial.

In a campaign launched this month, Procter & Gamble featured a commercial with the song to introduce its Luvs' Bear Hug Stretch line of disposable diapers with "premium leakage protection." Internet chat sites and radio stations have been inundated with outraged Beatles fans who feel the product has cheapened the legacy of the band.

"I cannot see a Beatles song being used for trial things … not Beatles songs!!!" posted Andy Bonnell from Liverpool, England — home of the Fab Four.

"'All you need is Luvs?' pleeeeease," wrote "instant Karla" on the beatlelinks.net's "fab forum" discussion group.

Radio DJ Cha-Chi Loprete, of WZLX in Boston, says Beatles songs, mostly written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon, are "works of art" which changed and influenced generations.

"For me, it corrupts and contaminates the memories I have," said Loprete, who has been hosting a Breakfast with The Beatles show for two decades. "John Lennon must be rolling over in his grave."
Used as an antiwar song

The song has a special history. It was first performed by the band in its first ever live global television event. The program, broadcast via satellite on June 25, 1967, was watched by 350 million people. All You Need is Love was featured on the Beatle's Magical Mystery Tour album released the same year.

Some fans also point out the song was popular during the counterculture years of the late 1960s and early 1970s, and among anti-Vietnam War opponents who used it as a call to peace.

Unfortunately for Beatles fans, the surviving members and relatives do not hold publishing rights. Sony/ATV Music Publishing — a joint venture of Sony Corp. and singer Michael Jackson — have that right. The company doesn't need permission to license the songs in its Beatles catalogue.

In fact, Beatles songs have already been used in the past to sell products. A version of Help! was used in a 1985 car ad, while a 2002 cover of When I'm Sixty-Four was flogged in a commercial for Allstate Insurance. And Target stores in the U.S. have used Hello Goodbye.

For its part, Procter & Gamble says it has honoured the music.

"Music has a way of connecting us and making us smile," said spokesperson Lisa Jester.

Jester says the commercial, showing a diaper-clad toddler wrestling with a stuffed bear as his family watches, registered high with parents.

Some fans say they are resigned to the commercialization of Beatles music.

"I'm less offended now," admits Charles Rosenay, an American who organizes pilgrimages to Liverpool under the banner, Magical History Tours.

Rosenay says those kind of ads introduce new generations to the band's legacy.

"It has a positive effect."

Boy, if i was Paul or Ringo, I would shoot Michael Jackass right into obscurity. Though always a fan of MJ's music, i do not support this move. using such an important message to sell diapers.

John and George must be rolling around in their graves.

Rock on forever, Beatles!

[Edited 8/3/07 20:48pm]