Associate Professor of Music Lydia Hamessley presented a paper titled "Commercial Folk: Dow Chemical's 'Human Element' Campaign" at the Music & The Moving Image conference, held at New York University on May 18-20. Her paper examined Dow Chemical's $20 million advertising campaign, "The Human Element" (2006).
According to Hamessley's paper, "Its most visible presence was a 90-second television ad that featured lush images of the natural world and 'real people' of all ages and races from around the world as well as a voice-over that mixed spiritual profundity and chemistry made mystical: 'life is elemental,' 'we see all things connected.' However, the music used in the advertisement, 'The New Harmony Waltz' by Susan Voelz, is what creates this commercial's powerful, almost mesmerizing, effect. This leisurely-paced, folk-like fiddle tune transports the listener to an idealized rural world of a simpler time.
This tune also evokes a more well-known fiddle tune, "Ashokan Farewell," by Jay Ungar, which was featured so prominently in Ken Burns' PBS series The Civil War. Dow states that "The Human Element" campaign "reintroduces the company and announces its vision of addressing some of the most pressing economic, social and environmental concerns facing the global community…." The paper examines how this commercial, particularly its musical score, works in Dow's attempt to reconstruct a public image that for many is unredeemable, according to Hamessley.
According to Hamessley's paper, "Its most visible presence was a 90-second television ad that featured lush images of the natural world and 'real people' of all ages and races from around the world as well as a voice-over that mixed spiritual profundity and chemistry made mystical: 'life is elemental,' 'we see all things connected.' However, the music used in the advertisement, 'The New Harmony Waltz' by Susan Voelz, is what creates this commercial's powerful, almost mesmerizing, effect. This leisurely-paced, folk-like fiddle tune transports the listener to an idealized rural world of a simpler time.
This tune also evokes a more well-known fiddle tune, "Ashokan Farewell," by Jay Ungar, which was featured so prominently in Ken Burns' PBS series The Civil War. Dow states that "The Human Element" campaign "reintroduces the company and announces its vision of addressing some of the most pressing economic, social and environmental concerns facing the global community…." The paper examines how this commercial, particularly its musical score, works in Dow's attempt to reconstruct a public image that for many is unredeemable, according to Hamessley.
