Noticing and understanding manipulation tactics is vital to resisting them. Music is no less powerful a tool for propaganda than visual language, dramatic structure, or the implicit assumptions a joke forces you to accept. It may be more powerful, because music attempts to access your emotions directly, without the need for language, symbols, or a rational argument.
On that note, I was recently asked to break down what's going on in the following Burger King jingle (Burger Kingle, if you will) (you have no choice)--so I graciously complied with a transcription, and some notes. Listen below to what I'm talking about, follow the above image as well as you can, and read on for a closer look at what this track is doing to make you feel like buying their product is a joyous and empowering thing to do.
1. The 'Uplifting' Chord You're Hearing
If nothing else, your big takeaway here should be the use of that Bb major chord, in a key area where it is naturally minor instead. That's the money chord of this track, and likely 'the thing you heard' if you found anything particularly interesting. Keep reading for further information on harmony, or skip down to section 3 for how this chord is being used to send you a consumerist message.
Why It Sound Happy?
Without going too far into the weeds, it should make intuitive sense that if you take a sequence of chords, and replace a minor chord (usually a subdued sound) with its major version (usually a bright, warm, or active sound) then your progression will sound... brighter, warmer, more active, dare I say happier than it would using the minor chord. Fair enough? What else?
A Little Further Into The Weeds
Well, in this case we're specifically talking about major-izing the the minor ii (two)-chord into II. (Or, from the minor key's perspective, majorizing minor iv (four) into IV.)
Hold up, sorry, what are those Roman numerals doing here?
Great question. Remember, it's okay to be confused! Remember also that if you see something weird, it usually works that way for a reason and you need only discover it. =)
In short: Arabic numerals are already used for a few different things in music notation / analysis. So, because 6 can mean a fingering or a note in the scale or an interval already, we use Roman numerals for discussing chords and their relative places in a key. I'll leave a full discussion on how that works for another time, but it's worth mentioning that this method actually gives us an advantage for the bread-and-butter chords we often talk about: there's no such thing as an upper- and lower-case 6, but you can have upper- and lower-case Roman numerals! So we use lowercase for minor chords (iv) and uppercase for major chords (IV). Efficient!
Right, so, you were talking about turning ii into II?
Yes. That's the specific alteration happening here. The difference is a single note being either higher or lower than usual, but it makes a difference which note that is in the scale. In the case of ii (D minor in key of C), the note being raised is the 4th scale degree (F in key of C). Turning that F into an F# is actually the only difference between key of C and key of G - because of this very small difference, classically, G is considered just 'one' key 'higher' than C. Get it? You only need need to raise one note to get there. Incidentally, that F# is now the 7th note in the key of G, or the 'leading tone,' because it leads to G.
ii and II 2: The Two-ening
So in this track, all the brightness of that higher key is being brought to bear on the current one, by trading ii (B flat minor, with a D-flat note in it) for II (B flat major, with a D-natural in it instead). Note as well that the uplifting effect is made even stronger by the absence of a full chord just before. See above image: note 'no 3'
In modern parlance you can call this trade of ii for II 'borrowing' that major chord from that higher key, like you would borrow your friend's phone charger. If the music actually continued in the new key, e.g., you never gave the charger back, that's not 'borrowing' anymore, that's st-modulating.
Summary of the above
The 'uplifting' sound you hear is a specific chord that is different from usual. It makes one note higher, and that note makes us feel for a moment like we're in a higher key. The 'brightening' effect is heroic and energizing. You can hear this specific device in E. T., Jurassic Park, tons of fantasies wherever flight is involved, Lord of the Rings, etc.
For further viewing on the major II chord and its use in film and pop, definitely check out this short crash course from Ryan Leach! It's like this post, but better. Below, section 2 and 3 combined are shorter than what you just read, so do continue on.
2. Progression From Dark To Bright
This track begins in an F minor key area, including the use of the Bb minor chord appropriate for it. It ends, however, in the Ab major key area. These two key areas actually use the exact same scale! It's just a matter of which note you call home, F or Ab. For this reason, we would call Ab the relative major of F minor, and F minor is the relative minor of Ab major.
Over the course of the track, we move from F minor to Ab major, or in other words, from the relative minor to the relative major within the same scale. The result is a smooth change of feeling, from a darker sound to a brighter one. We will discuss the implications of this in
3. Harmony as Hypnosis: The Manipulation Tactic
We've explored what exactly that uplifting sound is you heard, and some broader things the track is doing. We've ignored the role of rhythmic syncopation adding energy to the words by anticipating the beat, because this post is long enough already. Time to place these musical tools in their commercial context: as propaganda, as an exhortation to purchase burgers.
Darkness to Brightness
In section 2 I briefly highlighted the change of mood over the course of the track from minor to relative major, darker to brighter. You are, in other words, deliberately being set up to feel happier at the end of the commercial than at the beginning. Ideally, for the marketer, you will not notice this. You will simply be enticed to watch the commercial and to feel the difference that watching the commercial made. You will not think enough of the commercial to remember it consciously. But your body will remember what you felt, the next time it sees the appropriate stimuli. This is more in the background, but the heavy-hitting material is paired with the more potent, direct messaging.
Pairing The Material With The Messaging
Where precisely does this uplifting major-II harmony land? On the two most important lyrics:
- "I rule this day"
- "Have it your way"
The actual information about the product, earlier in the track, is totally irrelevant. What matters is that all of your internal emotional machinery, all your associations with that lovely major-II uplifting chord, all your deep memories of E.T. and Jurassic Park and unnamable other places you've heard that sound and felt happy and heroic--all of that is funneled, intentionally, into making sure you attach that feeling to consuming our product. =) That you feel empowered to consume our product. Wow, doesn't it feel good inside to consume our product? =)
Your brain did all the work for them. All you needed to do was watch the ad.
If you give advertisements your attention, they will milk your emotions for every future purchase you are worth, because it works. Capitalists understand that your attention is the single most powerful and valuable resource you have, and they are paying millions for these fifteen seconds of your time, for plugs by your favorite 'content creators,' for push notifications on your apps, because it fucking works and you're giving it away for free.
Your body remembers your feelings better than you, and makes them your reality. When you are hungry, scared, or stressed, your body remembers the comforting stories it was told by the things you chose to pay attention to, over and over and over.
What messages are you allowing to become your reality? What are you choosing to spend your attention learning?
The complete transcription again:
