Oscar Mayer No Longer Has a Way with B-O-L-O-G-N-A

Music majors can pretty much cross of jingle writing from their lists of potential ways to make a living with their degrees. Even Oscar Mayer, the company that brought you two of the most memorable ad songs of all time, is abandoning the jaunty jingle in its add campaigns.

No more cute kid singing about how he wishes he were an Oscar Mayer Weiner, or how his bologna has a first name for the overall brand. The venerable meat company has hired a new ad agency and is taking a new approach. They say they're going to focus on emphasizing the brand, rather than the individual products.

What will that look like? Mostly images of happy people in family situations, eating all sorts of Oscar Mayer products, from varied lunch meats to pre-made items to hot dogs and especially bacon. There will be music, but it will be a generically focused pop tune, ending with the tag line, "It doesn't get better than this."

The song and the tag line were actually written by pop a tunester from Nashville, Joy Williams, who has also written for American Idol contenders David Archuleta and Mandisa. That's somewhat of an anomaly these days in advertising music. More often, a group or individual artist records a song which becomes a hit, and it's then licensed for advertising purposes.

Just ask the Black Eyed Peas, whose hits "Let's Get it Started" and more recently, "I Gotta Feeling" are among the most popularly licensed. Coming up with an upbeat tune with a positive, memorable saying seems to be the shortest road to both fame and fortune for a contemporary songwriter. If you write it, they will come (and license).

But old school fans of the jingle will find some relief in the fact that Oscar Mayer has not completely retired their famous tunes. Look for the classic Oscar Mayer Weinermobile at a store near you, and you'll be able to sing along about your weiner wishes. And when you see ads that are bologna specific, you'll still be informed that it has a first and second name.