“Austen Herbert Croom Croom-Johnson (1909 – 1964) is a Force in American radio. He is the man behind the Pepsi-Cola jingles.
During the past six months, the 15 second Pepsi-Cola ditty has been broadcast about 18,000 times on 200 radio stations. The stations average about 10 Pepsi-Cola broadcasts a week. Johnson and his collaborator, Alan Bradley Kent, have sold jingles to other advertisers: Esso, Flit and the National Biscuit Company but the wide spread Pepsi Cola campaign has made them the top team in their league… The basic Pepsi Cola song is classically simple. It is just a swing-out on the old hunting song, John Peel, It opens with a rhythmic “nickel, nickel, nickel” vamp to a four-four count. Then comes the refrain, which, in case you can’t read the Tune-Twisters’ script above, goes”-
Pepsi-Cola hits the spot.
Twelve full ounces, that’s a lot,
Twice as much for a nickel, too,
Pepsi Cola is the drink for you.
“After several months the jingle was well ground into listeners’ ears, so Pepsi-Cola ordered variations on the theme. Some were scored for swing, boogie-woogie and baby-talk. Later the first two lines were rewritten.”
The tune was so catchy it was an instant hit among the kids at the time (now in their eighties) who began rewriting it to suit their social needs. One Sunday school class re-fashioned the jingle to sing:
“Christianity hits the spot.
Twelve Apostles, that’s a lot,
Virgin Mary, Christ Child, too,
Christianity is the thing for you.
– two from Amazon:
