The State of Fruitopia

[IEDSRI@aol.com]

In response to Karen's suggestion, here is an updated description of all 
eleven Kate Bush-scored Fruitopia commercials seen in the U.S. to date.  
N.B.: These were NOT scored by Cocteau Twins or Liz Fraser, though IED
greatly appreciates Steve ZPJ's report explaining that UK audiences are 
hearing Liz Fraser and not Kate. IED therefore produces the information 
below even though European fans' interest in the following may perforce 
remain only academic.

------ 

FRUITOPIA:  A LIST OF KATE BUSH-SCORED COMMERCIAL FILMS

General note:  These are the TV ads (and one theatre ad).  They
reportedly do not correspond to the radio ads, though IED has never heard
those.  In one respect, however, they are different from any radio ad (and
this is why they are so wonderful):  the TV ads have no spoken-word vocal
pitch to obscure Kate Bush's music.  All the text in the ads is read-only.

Note that although several new (1995) Fruitopia commercials
have been aired in the United States, only one of these
actually contains new Kate Bush music not heard in any of
the first (1994) collection.  IED mentions this because
several people have reported seeing additional 1995 spots;
unfortunately, these are simply new visuals attached to
Kate's earlier (1994) musics.  

Please forgive any awkwardness in IED's description of the visuals and
(particularly) the music.  It's the best he could do.
Finally, IED takes no responsibility for the slightly nauseating
tone of the texts and the names of individual flavors of 
Fruitopia.

 I.    1994 commercials:

01.    TITLE:   "Fighting Fruit" (official Coca-Cola title).  30 seconds.  
                Specific flavor touted:  Fruit Integration.
       TEXT:    "The apples don't fight the pineapples in Fruit 
                Integration.  People could learn a lot from fruit."
       VISUALS: This ad, like all of them, end with the tag line,
                "For the mind [represented by a simple drawing of a 
                head], body [stick figure], planet [sketch of Earth]."
                Visuals include recognizable shots of pineapple.
       MUSIC:   4/4, mid-tempo.  A pretty melody by high synth,
                with heavy synthetic drum-kit rhythm (snares on second
                and third downbeat of each measure);  halfway through, 
                Kate (her voice recognizable), chants gleefully, "Hey! 
                Hey! Juice!"

02.    TITLE:   "Nice" (official title).  30 seconds.  
       FLAVOR:  Pink Lemonade Euphoria.  
       TEXT:    "If your mouth can't say something nice, put something 
                nice in it.  Please try Pink Lemonade Euphoria."  
       VISUALS: Very yellow, with some pink -- lots of lemons, starting 
                out against a black background.
       MUSIC:   4/4, mid-tempo.  A synthetic tribal bass-drum
                sound on the first downbeat of each measure is the only
                percussion,  and the main instrumental music, carried by
                synthetic flutes (in simple two-note chords), is a cadence
                of syncopated sixteenth-notes.  Over this Kate (barely 
                recognizable -- some listeners originally described this
                as sounding like Japanese schoolgirls) chants what sound
                like (but may not be) English words including the phrase 
                "something's coming".  
 
03.    TITLE:   "Passion" (IED's title).  30 seconds.  
       FLAVOR:  Strawberry Passion Awareness.
       TEXT:    "The ancient Maori believed passion fruit was a 
                powerful aphrodisiac.  Hey, it couldn't hurt.  Try 
                Strawberry Passion Awareness." 
       VISUALS: Lots of strawberries and halved apples.
       MUSIC:   4/4.  A chorus of tribal drums, with two harmonically
                unrelated descending minor thirds (the first in staccato
                triplets, the second in legato dotted quarter-notes) the
                only other music.

04.    TITLE:   "Raspberry" (IED's title): 30 seconds. 
       FLAVOR:  Raspberry Psychic Lemonade. 
       TEXT:    "There is a wonderful person inside you who is dying
                to get out.  Please drink a Raspberry Psychic Lemonade 
                for him/her."  
       VISUALS: Starts with raspberries against a black background, 
                also lots of lemons.
       MUSIC:   4/8.  Slow bongo rhythm, with a pretty little melody 
                by electric piano, and a soft synthetic bass. 

05.   TITLE:   "Message of Love" (IED's rather yucky title).  30 seconds.
      FLAVOR:  Lemonade Love and Hope. 
      TEXT:    "If you can't judge a fruit by the color of its skin,
               how can you judge a person that way?  A message of 
               Lemonade, Love and Hope."  
      VISUALS: Completely yellow, nothing but lemons.
      MUSIC:   4/4, medium-fast tempo.  Tabla drum pattern with mandolins
               (?) supporting Kate's (recognizable) "drum-talk" (?) -- 
               the "digguh-dah, digguh-dah" stuff (Indian) that Sheila
               Chandra has made popular (though it can be heard at the 
               end of Kate's1982 track, "Get Out of My House", too).

06.   TITLE:   "Soul" (official title).  30 seconds.
      FLAVOR:  Citrus Consciousness.
      TEXT:    "This is what Citrus Consciousness can do to your 
               tongue.  Imagine what it can do for your soul."
      VISUALS: Lemons, limes and oranges.  The text is revealed on the
               screen one word at a time, each word appearing
               simultaneously in different parts of the screen.
      MUSIC:   3/4,  medium-slow.  This is a wistful little waltz, 
               with synthetic pizzicato strings setting the beat, 
               and synthetic oboes (?) playing an odd, childlike 
               melody that begins in a single voice, ends with harmony 
               a third below.    

07.   TITLE:   "Where Were You?"  (IED's title).  30 seconds.
      FLAVOR:  Cranberry Lemonade Vision. 
      TEXT:    "Where were you when:  the second man walked on
               the moon?  the Berlin Wall went up?  This commercial
               started?  You had your first Cranberry Vision?"
      VISUALS: Begins with a shot of lemons that look a little like
               Pacmen against a black background.  Most of the ad shows
               deep red cranberries and bright yellow lemons against a
               deep greenish-gold background.
      MUSIC:   4/4, mid-tempo.  Begins and ends just with sampled (?)
               hand-claps; features a simple synth keyboard melody in
               block chords set against a basic drum-kit beat.  
 
08.   TITLE:   "Teaser" (IED's title).  30 seconds.
      FLAVOR:  No specific flavor is mentioned.  This ad appeared 
               very early in the campaign.  Not to be confused with 
               ad no. 9, also for no specific flavor.
      TEXT:    "The following 30 seconds will not inspire:  violent
               crime, a religious experience, conscpicuous consumption.
               It may, however, make you thirsty."
      VISUALS: Great variety of colors, none dominant.  Ends 
               with some pale purplish colors, turning to red 
               (cranberries or cherries) against a near-black background.
      MUSIC:   4/4.  Slow.  A quiet heartbeat drum-pattern is the only
               percussion.  A lazy melody by an electric piano sounds
               quasi-improvised.
 
09.   TITLE:   "Summer Solstice" (official title). 30 seconds 
               (see No. 10). 
      FLAVOR:  No specific flavor is mentioned.
      TEXT:    "The summer solstice is:  a pagan ritual.  The 
               summer solstice is:  the first day of summer.  The 
               summer solstice is:  a happy day for people who practice
               voodoo.  The summer solstice is:  the first day of
               Fruitopia."
      VISUALS: The most varied use of color, showing
               all kinds of fruit in quick succession, starting with 
               a lot of red grapes (looking dark gray) against a 
               black and red background.
      MUSIC:   4/4.  Medium-slow. Cymbal-free drum-kit
               percussion; a heavy, repetitive bassline on a single 
               minor third; weird, high melody-line by unidentifiable
               synth voice; and Kate's voice (recognizable) half-
               muttering half-words, and (sampled) again, singing what
               sounds like a loop of "boy-boy-boy,  boy, boy-OY, 
               boy, boy!" 

10.   TITLE:   "What If?"  (official title).  60 seconds.  
               WIDE-SCREEN.  N.B.:  This ad, twice the length of 
               all the others, was made for screening in movie theatres.
               The ad includes the footage from No. 09 ("Summer Solstice")
               above, and reveals that the shorter version was a
               pan-and-scan of the wide-screen original.
      FLAVOR:  No specific flavor is mentioned.
      TEXT:    "What if. . .  nobody voted?  you die not knowing?
               you never fall in love?  extraterrestrials are us, not 
               them?  the experts are wrong?  fashion does matter?
               everybody was the same color? virtual reality is 
               reality?  you hugged the person next to you?  you 
               are alone?  there were no last names?  there really
               is someone out there?  you never read 'Madame Bovary'?
               the cynics are right?  you spill your popcorn?  everybody
               could draw?  everybody could sing?  you never needed a
               passport?  nobody was hungry?  tribes didn't exist?  you
               didn't attend Woodstock? you're thirsty? the end is 
               near?  people stop reading?  nobody had to sleep alone?
               this movie changes your life?  your pet is your best 
               friend?  nobody cried?  this is all there is?  Fruitopian
               queries have no answers?"
      VISUALS: Same as No. 09 above, but longer, and wide-screen.
      MUSIC:   Same as 09, only a longer re-mix.

II.   1995 commercials:

11.   TITLE:   "Some People" (first shown during 1995 Oscars). 30 seconds.
      FLAVOR:  Iced Tea/Inner Light (no specific flavors).
      TEXT:    "Some people like/hula dancing,/sitcoms,/drag racing,/
               public television,/romance novels,/ice fishing,/body 
               painting./Everybody gets thirsty differently."
      VISUALS: A red and white stripes give the first part of the
               ad a kind of peppermint look; as part of the "new look"
               of these second-generation spots, non-fruit items, among
               them an acoustic guitar and a marble head of a Greek 
               goddess, are thrown into the kaleidoscopic mix.              
       MUSIC:  4/4. Major key.  Bass tabla cadence. Kate's backing 
               vocals sing "Ah-wee-ay, ah-wee-oh, ah-wee-ay..." and
               are answered by Kate's main vocal (very clearly 
               identifiable as Kate) singing some phrases that 
               sound tantalizingly like words but which IED cannot
               decipher. 
                                   
The article in "Shoot!" magazine, which alerted us all to Kate's connection
with Fruitopia, mentioned a total of nine ads, and this was confirmed in
telephone conversations with two people connected with Coca-Cola. (The 
music in No. 10 ["What If?"] is the same as in No. 9 ["Summer Solstice"].)
With the addition of the new Iced Tea/Inner Light ad, we have a total of 
eleven Kate Bush ads, of which 10 contain distinct musics.

-- Andrew Marvick (IED)
   S         R        I
   "Hey! Hey! JUICE!"