War: Why Can't We Be Friends?

Can a song that repeats the hook line over forty times get on your nerves? Perhaps, but not necessarily, as War’s 1975 hit of “Why Can’t We Be Friends?’ did just that and charted at #6 on the American charts. The song was played in space and has appeared in a number of movies, TV shows, and a few commercials – which qualifies it for our TV Thursday hit.

The most recent commercial to feature the song was in 2010 when Pepsico used it for their Pepsi Max campaign. The commercial is one of my favorites; however, the band War is not smiling as members of the band who performed the song were neither consulted nor did they receive any royalties from the obvious synchronization of their tune to this ad. Apparently, the band members found out about the song’s commercialization when they saw it on television.

In September 2010, several of the members of the original War filed suit against Pepsi regarding their blatant lack of permission in its use. At this writing, I can find no information on whether the suit went to trial, was settled out of court, or was dropped. One would think that nearly two years later that news would be forthcoming in this matter.

The Infamous Commercial