For two days I've had the most nonsensical song in my head: The old ad jingle for "Big Red" chewing gum. Big Red hasn't used this ad in years but I just discovered that Verizon's latest TV ads are a remake of these strange corny old ads.

Two questions:

Why, in 2010, can't an ad agency come up with an original idea? Why do we get these earbugs? 

Earbugs. They're those stupid tunes that get stuck in your head on replay. 

Here's what I found out about the earbug phenom from Discover mag:

An earworm is a mental mosquito bite that produces a cognitive "itch." And if you can't remember all of the song or some of the words, the brain just keeps going round and round trying to scratch that itch. Earbugs also apparently happen more often in women, musicians and people who worry. If you're tired or stressed out, you're wide open to a predatory ditty.

Here's a look at the old Big Red ad.

Now compare it to the Verizon ad.

Can you hear the jingle now?