What does classical music say about the social mood? Advertisers tap the great composers

Jay Nordlinger posted at The Corner: Non-Football Super Bowl Notes

1) I wish Beethoven could know they were using his music to sell Coca-Cola during the Super Bowl. (“Coca-Cola? Super Bowl?”) (The music was from his Fifth Symphony.)

2) There was a hint of Wagner in a Lexus commercial. (A motif from The Ring.)

3) There was Verdi in a Doritos commercial. (“La donna è mobile,” from Rigoletto.)

4) There was Bach in a Time-Warner Cable commercial. (C-major prelude from Book I of The Well-Tempered Clavier.)

Most of the research has been focused on pop music: Melody and Mood: An Update of the Socionomics of Popular Music