You’ll find it at the Bank Otzar Hahayal

June 19, 2011 - 8:12 AM by David

One of the charming aspects of Israeli society is its integration of pop hits into its advertising and musical lexicon.

Israeli TV and radio ads regularly use classic American oldies to pitch everything from cottage cheese to cable TV, due to their familiarity with the local audience. However, due to the fact that the advertisers are basing their campaigns on the music and not the lyrics, the results are sometimes amusing, if not downright peculiar.

Take, for example, the radio ads that are currently running for Bank Otzar Hahayal – the country’s eighth largest bank. Established in 1946 to provide soldiers with banking benefits and help them once they demobilized, the bank has developed into a national institution. But it’s still, in many minds, still connected to the idea of being the bank for IDF soldiers.

That’s why the latest ads featuring a bouncy jingle in Hebrew sung to the original recording of “YMCA,” the 1970s hit by the Village People is so funny. Evidently, the Tel Aviv creative team behind the ad, is too young to recall that the Village People in general, and “YMCA” in particular were all about celebrating the newly liberated gay lifestyle in the US. While the song ostensibly spouts virtues of the Young Men’s Christian Association, in gay culture from which the group sprang, the song was implicitly understood as celebrating the YMCA’s reputation as a popular cruising and hookup spot.

In the ensuing years, the song has taken on a life of its own, and a quick perusal of Google reveals that it’s now a favorite at sporting events and high school dances in the US. So, I guess, in the end it’s not so surprising that the soldiers’ bank in Israel would decide hawk its wares with the dancing anthem.

But it still is funny.

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