Lakewood, NJ – Kars-4-Kids Jingle Drives Some Listeners Insane

    33

    Lakewood, NJ – Anyone who spends 15 minutes listening to the radio has felt its wrath.

    Join our WhatsApp group

    Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email


    The plunking of the piano, the out-of-tune child, the off-key, slightly-creepy male voice that follows.

    Over and over again, the music plays at all hours of the day, until you feel like someone is threading your eardrum with a knitting needle.

    1-8-7-7 Kars for Kids

    K-a-r-s Kars for Kids

    1-8-7-7 Kars for Kids

    Do-nate your car ta-day

    (The commercial can be heard in its entirety at www.kars4kids.org.)

    It’s not just me. A quick Google search for “kars 4 kids jingle” produces a trove of infuriated listeners, including some who are close to committing acts of violence. Their spelling errors, undoubtedly made in a blind fit of rage, have been corrected.

    • “As irritating as a hemorrhoid!”

    • “That stupid song is gonna send me to a padded cell if I hear it again.”

    • “The Kars 4 Kids radio jingle makes me want to set my hair on fire. If I could find the person who wrote that, I would shoot them with a harpoon gun.”

    • “I seriously was considering suicide last night thanks to this craptacular commercial.”

    • “It will burrow into your skull and slowly gnaw away at the gray, squishy parts. It will never leave you.”

    • “I have actually gotten out of the shower on the fifth or sixth note – risking electrocution – to shut off the radio because that damn song is so God awful.”

    • “Damn you Kars-4-Kids!”

    Who are these Kars-4-Kids people?

    And why are they so intent on making our ears bleed?

    Based in Lakewood, N.J., Kars-4-Kids is the charitable arm of Joy of Our Youth, “a national organization providing for the spiritual, emotional and practical needs of Jewish children from impoverished or dysfunctional families,” according to www.kars4kids.org.

    The group’s big goal is getting Jewish kids enrolled in Jewish schools, with the sale of donated cars helping to accomplish that mission.

    Kars-4-Kids manager Esti Landau said the commercial first aired about six years ago. She was aware the jingle has become somewhat of a sensation – for better and for worse.

    The goal isn’t to drive people into bouts of madness, she said, but to burrow the Kars-4-Kids brand into enough heads that the notion of donating an old car to the charity automatically pops up when the time comes to buy a new car.

    The strategy has been largely successful, she said.

    To saturate the market locally, the commercial plays several times a day on the most popular AM radio stations, including WBBM, WGN and WLS. There are rock, reggae and country versions of the jingle for other markets and station formats.

    “We try not to make people set their hair on fire, but the jingle is very effective,” Landau said. “The campaign has worked for us. We hit a lot of people.”

    She said all of the voices in the commercial are affiliated with the organization.

    Not everyone is a hater, either.

    Some listeners have called asking for an mp3 cut of the commercial.

    Landau said a boy who benefited from the charity walked down the aisle at his uncle’s wedding while the Kars-4-Kids song played.

    She pointed out that companies coming up with corny, catchy jingles are nothing new. A former Chicago resident, she recalled the old Empire Carpet commercials.

    “That’s still stuck in my head,” Landau said. “And I’ve been out of Chicago for 10 years.”

    At that rate, we should still be hearing the “1-8-7-7 Kars 4 Kids …” chorus in our ears until 2050.


    Listen to the VINnews podcast on:

    iTunes | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Podbean | Amazon

    Follow VINnews for Breaking News Updates


    Connect with VINnews

    Join our WhatsApp group


    33 Comments
    Most Voted
    Newest Oldest
    Inline Feedbacks
    View all comments
    robroy560
    robroy560
    15 years ago

    The jingle drives my wife insane, and I turn it up in the car.

    If the cars actually are sold and the monye is used for tzedekah, I’ll deal with the annoying jingle. Or, you can just change the station.

    I love it
    I love it
    15 years ago

    Thank you VIN for this.

    I believe it is a great jingle. Some people just hate jingles. They are intended to be such that you can’t get them out of your mind. That is what makes them effective.

    Yes, this one sounds like it will become irritating after awhile, but that is what makes if effective.

    So, though I may find it annoying, I enjoy the “art” of its effectiveness.
    “1-8-7-7 Kars for Kids

    K-a-r-s Kars for Kids

    1-8-7-7 Kars for Kids

    Do-nate your car ta-day”

    Here I am humming it….

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    what a stupid article!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    It doesnt deive me insane because the song is annoying and sounds like a VERY out of tune uncle moishy song (WHAT on earth HAPPENED to him? who persuaded him to do this?)

    Contry Yossi Fan
    Contry Yossi Fan
    15 years ago

    It’s Gonna be the little Kinderlach who make mashiach come!!!!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one who goes nuts from this jingle. I turn the radio off the second it comes on. Btw the tune was used by Country Yossi for the song “its gonna be the little kinderelach”
    The little little kindrelaaach

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    get a life! I think it’s cute and certainly no worse than that Window Factory advertisement where you “save” so much money by buying their windows.

    Joseph
    Joseph
    15 years ago

    It’s funny because that niggun comes from that old song (from Country Yossi I think) “It’s gonna be the little kinderlach” and it never drove anyone crazy before. It’s just the repetitiveness that drives people mad.

    good commercial
    good commercial
    15 years ago

    How dare they make fun of the kid who sings the jingle? He had a good voice & now that he has reached maturity, its even better KNH!!

    oorah fan
    oorah fan
    15 years ago

    totaly agree its been driving me crazy for long time i always change stations when i hear it. thanks for posting this article very important for other people to know there suffering together its therapeutic.

    Babishka
    Member
    Babishka
    15 years ago

    It’s not an out-of-tune piano, it’s an out-of-tune guitar. If I had to listen to that thing over and over I might hurt somebody.

    Joseph
    Joseph
    15 years ago

    Whether it drives you crazy or not, one thing’s for sure: They met their objective on keeping it in your mind, which is what great advertising is all about. Oorah is a marketing genius for this and everything else they do terms of marketing.

    HaMayvin Yovin
    HaMayvin Yovin
    15 years ago

    Country Yossi generally did not have ORIGINAL songs. They were “borrowed” from other sources.
    I used to know the original source of the song but now the jingle STICKS IN MY HEAD!!!!!! Aaaaarggggghhhhhhhhhhhh

    Joe
    Joe
    15 years ago

    This is so true! That commercial must have caused a lot of road rage and accidents.

    new mom
    new mom
    15 years ago

    what are you talking about, that kid has a great voice! If the jingle is annoying, that’s one thing, but don’t take it out on that boy.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    They should screen where they advertise. They are a regular on an FM talk show that is at best for mature adults.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    I donated my car to their organization and not to anyone else because their jingle popped into my head and I did not have to look up any telephone numbers!!! I love their jingle and I think they do great work!! Yup great advertisement really does work.

    kugel
    kugel
    15 years ago

    their organization is great but the jingle does drive me crazy. but nu, life is life.

    Help me
    Help me
    15 years ago

    I listened to this and the man is so off key. HELP ME

    abi gezint
    abi gezint
    15 years ago

    oh sure it drives me crazy , but thats the purpose! btw the NETFLIX spot is way more awful thats just the words wiyhout d jingles!

    nate
    nate
    15 years ago

    it is very annoying by the amount of times i hear it a day…wcbs wins wfan etc. it drives me mad & i do switch stations when it comes on…. don’t think its important enough 2 make an article out of it… i think the u.s. window factory was much more annoyin “WE TOLD U SO” besides that other car dealership in queens which the guy yells like a real nutjob that radio commercial takes the cake 4 being the most annoying by far!! good shabbos everyone!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    The song is copied from a song Four Wet Pigs which you can hear at the link below

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u76gVUXD8PY

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    I work at a Goyishe company with non jewish employees, and I can testify that the goyim go crazy when this advertisement is played. They run to turn off the radio and curse out the song. I’m not sure I understand why, but it seems that their soul can’t fartrug a heiliga song. Anyway, it might be time for Oorah to change their ad, or at least alternate with some other commericial.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    this article was worth just for the laughs. Thanks for the humor guys.

    Just don't get it...
    Just don't get it...
    15 years ago

    LOVE THE JINGLE!!! It’s a very catchy commercial. The point of a commercial is to make the listeners remember the company or product. So… Job very well done!

    git gezugt
    git gezugt
    15 years ago

    The buzz generated by this jingle is worth a million dollars.This is an “original” Country Yossi song from his first album. CY has a few originals on each album besides the parodies.There is something annoyingly hypnotic about it that makes you stop whatever it is your doing and take listen. CY also co-hosts the Oorah radiothon every year. Great team Oorah and CY!

    Robert L
    Robert L
    14 years ago

    The childs voice in the Jingle I think, is not a child. I was seated in a Subway Sandwhich shop in SOHO NYC some years ago, and I overheard what I thought was two children speaking. But one, the female sounded more like a parent then a young child. When I looked, I was amazed to find a full grown adult speaking with this little child’s voice. The voice sounds the same and she lady did mention some auditions she was trying out for because they liked her little girl voice. It could be her?