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Coca-Cola has asked Tube buskers to sing their jingle as live advertising this Christmas.
The firm has signed a deal with London Underground, which will see pitches branded with its slogans.
Singers and musicians across the network will be given sheet music or CDs so they can perform the company's festive jingle Holidays Are Coming. The campaign will run for one month from 30 November alongside TV adverts with the same music.
However, buskers and commuters have branded the idea "daft".
Michael Ball, a 47-year-old jazz guitarist from Tulse Hill who has been busking for 25 years in Tube stations, said: "Not in a million years will I play some Coke jingle. Most buskers make half their annual income in December. Londoners are really up for it and generous at this time and we know what songs and music work. Do commuters really want to hear a corporate jingle from every busker? What a daft idea."
The busking pitches have been previously sponsored by brands including Carling and radio station Capital 95.8.
A spokeswoman for Coca-Cola said: "Coca-Cola is sponsoring busking on London Underground this Christmas but we are in too early a stage to confirm the details of the arrangement."
The spokeswoman refused to confirm or deny whether buskers will be asked to sing or play the jingle. The deal could worsen the already strained relations between Transport for London and many of its 250 registered buskers.
Musicians branded TfL "draconian" for rules preventing them selling CDs or handing out promotional material. They are also objecting to new guidelines on noise and a higher-rate phone number to book their pitches.
A TfL spokeswoman said: "We are delighted that Coca-Cola will be sponsoring the London Underground licensed busking scheme in the run-up to Christmas and over the New Year." She said buskers would not be obliged to sing the jingle.
Reader views (3)
Is there a new marketing low Coca Cola won't stoop to? The spirit of Christmas indeed...
- Amy, London, UK, 13/12/2009 14:02
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Aww, Michelle, that's sweet of you. But no.
Here in London, licensed buskers will not be paid to advertise Coca-Cola. Instead, buskers who do not wish to do so are being told by TfL that they are free to make this choice. However, the best busking pitches are being given to buskers who are happy to sing Coca-Cola's jingle. So we either advertise Coca-Cola for free or starve.
We were not consulted about this.
Some of us are extremely unhappy and wonder what the point of the scheme is anyway, given that we have already been banned from selling our CDs or giving out business cards. Meanwhile, unlicensed buskers, since they can still sell their CDs and hand out business cards, continue to make more money than us, both on the Underground and through gigs elsewhere via people who spotted them busking. They are not bound by our scheme of voluntary co-operation with TfL.
It's almost as if TfL deliberately want to drive the licensed buskers away from the scheme.
- A Busker, London, 18/11/2009 01:14
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I hope Coca Cola plans to PAY the buskers for advertising them. In NYC a perfume company paid $1000 per busker to sing their jingle in the subway.
Coca cola should pay the buskers handsomely.
- Michelle, NYC, USA, 11/11/2009 16:12
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