Endorsing the pairing of bands and brands

LOS ANGELES — In the music video for Lady Gaga’s hit single “Bad Romance,” the pop diva vamps across several nightmarish tableaux wearing a variety of barely there lingerie get-ups. The flashy clip caused a sensation when it debuted in November and has racked up 85 million views on YouTube.

But perhaps its most striking aspect is the unabashed product placement — conspicuous visual shout-outs to Nemiroff vodka, Nintendo Wii, Burberry and other brands.

Back in the proverbial day, a song was a song and a jingle was a jingle and rarely the twain did meet. But now, with CD sales in free fall and opportunities for radio or television airplay increasingly rare, the rules governing the interplay between pop music and advertising are being rewritten.

It’s no longer possible to “sell out” — at least, not within a certain time-cherished understanding of the term. Rockers, rappers and up-and-coming pop titans of all stripes are licensing music and image as an integral part of brand-building, which largely has usurped selling music and concert tickets as many musicians’ professional goal.

Consider Chris Brown’s smash hit “Forever,” which cracked the Top 10 in seven countries in 2008 (before his career-derailing assault on Rihanna) and went double platinum. At the start of the song’s video, Brown is shown sliding a piece of gum into his mouth before heading out for a night on the town. On “Forever’s” chorus, he croons: “’Cause we only got one night / Double your pleasure, double your fun.”

Turns out the song was commissioned by Wrigley to promote — you guessed it — Doublemint gum. Three months after releasing the single, the chewing gum conglomerate aired its “reveal”: a TV commercial version of “Forever” featuring Brown singing about gum and dancing with a pack of Doublemint.

The spot generated outcry among music purists, but marketers greeted the spots with awe. “When the reveal happened, some people got upset,” recalled Steve Stoute, founder of the firm Translation Consultation & Brand Imaging. “But the number of spins went up, and Doublemint went up in awareness.”

Stoute, who was behind “Forever,” also is responsible for Justin Timberlake’s “I’m Lovin’ It” spots for McDonald’s as well as Beyoncé’s endorsement deal for Tommy Hilfiger’s True Star perfume and the career game plan to treat Lady Gaga “like a brand” in her own right.

Stoute said his marketing company gets several calls a week from “major artists” in pursuit of their own “Forever.”

Mariah Carey’s most recent CD, “Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel,” was accompanied by a 34-page mini-magazine bearing the R&B diva’s image and emblazoned with an Elle magazine logo. It’s a co-production between Carey’s label Island Def Jam Music Group and Elle that features such brands as Angel Champagne, Elizabeth Arden and the Bahamas Board of Tourism intermingled with lighter-than-air Mariah-based editorial featurettes: “VIP access to her sexy love life,” “Fantasy: the five-time Grammy winner goes behind the scenes of her new drama.”

Carey pointed out she is personally or commercially invested in everything advertised.

“Angel Champagne, I guess I’m part owner. The Bahamas, we have a house down there,” Carey explained, between bites of caviar at the Polo Lounge. “It all has to do with things that are organic to me. And honestly? I’m a big kid. I thought it would be cute.”

Island Def Jam is exploring similar branded CD booklet deals for artists including Kanye West, Rihanna and Bon Jovi.

It all makes the Who’s rollicking 1967 concept album “The Who Sell Out” — which featured faux commercials and cover art depicting band members shilling for deodorant and baked beans — appear prescient. (In further irony, the Who’s epochal 1965 single “My Generation” is currently featured in a commercial for Flo TV.)

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