Harris Paints
As I experience negative temperatures, I can't help but think of my homeland. Here is an ad that became so popular in Puerto Rican movie theaters that some people would stand up and put there hands on their hearts as if it was the national anthem. It was simple, but the song was catchy and also did a good job of capturing our culture in its lyrics.
The lyrics (with my translation next to them) go like this:
Pinta tu vida (Paint your life)
con los colores de mi tierra (With the colors of my land)
Frambuesa piragua (raspberry [as in the color], piragua [basically flavored shaved ice on a cone])
blanco como el coco (white like coconut)
amarillo mango (yellow, mango)
Verde quenepa (green, mamoncillo)
Azul de adoquines (blue of cobblestones?)
rojo flamboyán (red, flamboyán)
turquesa del mar (turquoise of the sea)
Son los colores de mi tierra (they're the colors of my land)
Nuestros colores (our colors)
Pinta tu vida (paint your life)
con los colores que Harris te da (with the colors that Harris qives you)
The song really hit the spot with Puerto Ricans. Everyone tried to memorize the lyrics. The guys at Harris marketing outdid themselves in knowing their audience. Now every time I go to the movies, I can't help but remember this great national movie theater anthem.
Comments
Sniff, Sniff. Such good memories... I think it's worth mentioning that when Harris Paints created a new ad (a very different one, not nearly as good, and with nothing to relate to our culture) to replace this one (which had already been around for years), it seems that many people complained about it (I was upset!), because they removed the new ad and brought this one back again for some time.
Posted by: Lidia Noemí | January 24, 2008 9:08 AM
Catchy movie theater anthem indeed... I believe there's a facebook group that wants the commercial to be played again in theaters...
Posted by: Juan Reyes | January 28, 2008 3:58 PM