White Stripes: Air Force Commandeered Our Song

Super Bowl ad featured song similar to "Fell in Love With a Girl," says band

Detroit-based rockers The White Stripes may sic a seven nation army on the Air Force, after seeing a recruitment commercial during the Super Bowl telecast that they say used one of their songs without permission.

The two-member band issued a statement saying they don't support the wars the U.S. is involved in and would never have approved the Air Force reserves using the song "Fell in Love With a Girl."

"The White Stripes support this nation's military. ... We simply don't want to be a cog in the wheel of the current conflict," the band said in a statement posted to its Web site. "The White Stripes take strong insult and objection to the Air Force Reserve presenting this advertisement with the implication that we licensed one of our songs to encourage recruitment during a war that we do not support."

The Air Force Reserve, in a statement, denied the song was the White Stripes' and said it had hired a company through its advertising agency to score original music for the commercial.

"There was never any intention to utilize any existing music or to sound like any music by the band White Stripes or any other musical performer," the Air Force Reserve statement reads. "Any similarity or likeness to any other music is completely unintentional."

The spot ran in markets including Dallas, Las Vegas and San Francisco, Mike Speciale, a spokesman for Blaine Warren Advertising, the Las Vegas agency responsible for the ad, told The Associated Press.

"It was specifically produced for airing regionally during the Super Bowl in some local markets," Speciale said. "It was scheduled to be pulled right after the Super Bowl. It was only a one-time shot."
 

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