Mahna Mahna, let's sell a car

Do the Muppets' Snowths and Mahna Mahna have agents? They should. Someone should be protecting their image.

Fans of all ages know these characters as the stars of the beloved "Mahna Mahna" sketch: 2 ½ minutes of pure joy. In the bit, the pink Snowths sing a bouncy lyricless tune, and wild-haired Mahna Mahna barges in every now and then with a self-indulgent chorus of "Mahna Mahna."

Now, two television commercials have tarnished that memory by co-opting the song to hawk their goods. Saturn employs the ditty to sell a midsized car, and Big Lots.com goes so far as to change the chorus to "you never know."

Why this is wrong

It's one thing to exploit hit pop songs with passing significance. But prostituting one of the prized memories of a generation? That's practically blasphemous. (Don't blame the Muppets, who don't own rights to the music.)

"Mahna Mahna" was a phenomenon because of its nonsensical simplicity. It packed no subliminal message (unless you knew of the tune's origin in a kitschy documentary on Swedish girls). What you saw (and heard) was what you got, which happens to be the polar opposite of modern advertising.

As the first members of the "Sesame Street" generation take leadership roles in advertising, this is bound to happen more and more, with commercials borrowing the untainted images and words of our childhood. Volkswagen kicked it off by using New Wave band Trio's song "Da Da Da."

Perhaps it was inevitable. Our media makers today grew up in a nostalgia-crazy time. The 1980s were dominated by "The Wonder Years," "The Big Chill," and "Dirty Dancing" taking us back to the warm and fuzzy 1950s and '60s. Heck, "Stand By Me" was so gooey that even though it was about a trip to see a dead body, you wanted in on the trek. And what established time and place best? The soundtrack.

Still, at least those were grown-up songs. The use of music from our earliest recollections to establish a connection to a product is a despicable part of the American hard-sell. What's next, the sound of a heartbeat from the womb?

I approve of ...

In contrast to the crass usurpation of a children's classic for pure salesmanship, the British version of the sitcom "The Office" turns "Mahna Mahna" into a charming bit in the opening of the show's second season. Three grown men partaking in a silly song, with big grins in a drab office. When they're through, they wordlessly go back to work.

When you hit the right note, in life and in art, nothing needs saying.