New capitalization on old music: approaches to the use of Verdi's music in TV advertisements

Abstract

Advertisers use music in as much as 90% of television commercials. Classical and opera music play a special role in this medium, as classical music carries with it any number of already established inferences and meanings that may then be altered by the images in the commercial, or imparted upon the images and product in the commercial. This thesis looks at three television commercials from 2006 that use the music of Giuseppe Verdi, and how this music is used. I revisit the current understanding of how television advertising uses classical music as a musical indicator of high culture and social status. I challenge the idea that this is the only way in which advertising uses classical and opera music, and I propose three new possible ways that television uses classical music in commercials.