To think M&S use of Enola Gay in their current advertisement is just crass in the current climate?

[ArmitageShanked]

As above.

It’s a song with an anti war message - how on earth can you be offended by that?

@ArmitageShanked I think with the greatest of respect OP because I don't want you to call me an ignoramus or accuse me of watching TOWIE that your concern is more indicative of your own fears regards Putin.

I genuinely think if Putin, or indeed North Korea or any despot was going to use nuclear weapons, they would do so. They wouldn't just threaten it for weeks. Ukraine has been going on for over a year now. It's become an embarrassing stalemate for Putin. He doesn't want his people to know that, hence the nuke threats to appear powerful.

It's the despot version of a pissing contest.

I do think you may need to switch off the news and try and be more level headed about it if even M&S using a song from the 80s is getting to you that much.

@SunUp I think it's because my parents loved OMD so I automatically didn't (!) so never really listened properly, and it's like so many things/phrases that are at the edges of your brain but you might never have known the full meaning or history.
Sometimes my brain baffles me.😁

I agree with this, with war in Europe again we need to remember the past and make sure Nuclear war never happens again. I have no issues with anti war songs being used in advertising.

I think I love your parents a bit 😁

Many many many many songs have references to unsavoury things ,events and history
to me they are not promoting or justifying anything they are just songs

each to there own some will be offended some won’t that’s life
if someone is offended make your choice boycott it or whatever but that’s your choice your view not everyone shares it so don’t try and inflict it in everyone else

Surely a time where the threat of war is heightened is exactly the right one to push anti-war art? Good for M&S.

Ban it! Don't let our little kids listen to it.

Banish it to history and we shall never talk of this song again.

Can we ban My Angel is a Centrefold too?

Didn't realize people were so stressed about nuclear Armageddon right now ... it really is an 80s retro party on here. What Mumsnet would have been like if the internet existed in 1982.... Oooh I'm really worried we're all going to die. Can't believe M+S want us to style it out to synth.
Oh no, my mistake. We were on protest marches.

Cool song, saw them live last year ... now that set did feel a bit 'end of the world is nigh', good to think they might be getting some royalties off this - a lot of underrated 80s bands deserve a bit more credit (and money)

"I'm not going to get triggered by an atomic bomb because I lived it thankfully."

So, @ArmitageShanked are you a child of the 70s/80s or someone who is in their 70s/80s?

What with you living through the dropping of the atomic bomb in 1945. Or are we back to you confusing the napalm photo?

I'm only now (50) just about able to actually enjoy and sing along a Simon & Garfunkel song after years of having to endure them on Sunday car journeys.😂
Tortorous childhood!

I agree with op that it is a poor choice.
There have been many questionable song lyrics which I didn’t understand until further down the line.

How’d those marches work out for you/the world?

It is such a great tune.

Sadly it seems pretty relevant again at the moment.

I can't be offended by that, and I know what Enola Gay was.

Oof, sounds like mine except I had to endure my mother caterwauling to Cliff bloody Richard!

Dunno. I'd say about the same as posting a thread with crying faces about M+S tunes, but that's probably not true.

There were a lot of changes in the 80s and 90s leading to the end of the Cold War and massive de-nuclearisation programmes where the Soviet Union as was and USA decommissioned huge parts of their nuclear arsenals. Did that all happen because of public pressure? Of course not. Did public pressure, media coverage of protests, the Greenham Women etc play a part? Personally I think yes. What's your take?

I don't know about ArcticSkewer, but I had a blast when I went on them.

Oh God I dunno. I was really scared of nuclear bombs when I was a kid. My parents were a bit dramatic. Hence really can't be arsed about performative upset around a cool synth pop tune. It did give a sense of purpose though - we were 'doing something' ... maybe op feels like that too ... the 2020s version of activism 😂

Mind you, we were the only ones with the iodine tablets when Chernobyl happened

The absolutely mindblowing hypocrisy of posters like this is the best thing about these bullshit posts 😂

"I'm outraged, M&S should do better'

followed by

a string of aggressive messages, calling people fucking idiots, judging people on the TV shows they allegedly watch and using that as an insult, being rude about posters who asked for clarification, unwilling to engage in any debate, flouncing off, etc

Ok then... making the world a better place here are you 😂😂😂😂

Do you think "fuck off back to TOWIE" is the OP's equivalent of a "yer mam" insult? 😂

Being an ignoramus I didn’t know Enola Gay was the plane that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima.

Just read this about the song from Andy McCluskey who wrote it:

“I do sometimes catch myself on stage playing the song, with the audience going crazy and jumping up and down, clapping and shouting, and it does cross my mind that there’s something rather strange about the fact that we’re closing a euphoric set with a song about something so appalling. So there remains an ambivalence about it, which is also part of its strength. It has a depth and a darkness and a requirement to ask yourself moral questions.”

I guess I feel similarly ambivalent about it being used in an advert - I think it has cultural meaning that transcends the lyrics, as an iconic 80s tune that millions of people have danced to.

I think the structure of the song (not having a lyrical chorus) means it’s easier to separate the lyrics from tune than it is for most songs, which helps. The most iconic bits of the song aren’t sung to.

It's not the cheeriest song to sell clothes with. Nuclear destruction doesn't exactly inspire me to refresh my wardrobe.

I don't think the marketing team knew what it was about.

😂😂

I suspect some 12-year-old marketing exec’ went ‘ooh, jaunty tune….eighties vibe, our target demographic of mid-life ladies will like that….’ with narry a thought to context. See also the ad’ for cruises (forget which company) using ‘What is Love’ as a catchy tune and featuring a very loved-up couple on their anniversary cruise - I keep supplying the next line of the song in my head ‘baby don’t hurt me no more’ and imagining grim scenarios where she gets him drunk and shoves him overboard 😆