The Single Voice Behind Chili's Ribs And Goldfish Cracker Jingles

Not every ad you see is going to be a memorable one. According to Red Crow Marketing, the average American is exposed to 4,000 to 10,000 ads a day, whether that's from TV, radio, social media or from the clothes you wear and the foods you eat. However, we notice less than 100 of them — the ones with the right aspects to catch our attention. Per Search Engine Journal, jingles are one of the marketing tools that have been proven to work. "Jingles still work for the same reason they worked in the past," Victoria University's associate professor of marketing Michal Strahilevitz said. "Be it a jingle or a pop song, if you play a catchy tune with cute lyrics over and over again, people remember it."

And even if you hate to admit it, this tactic has likely worked on you. If you watched the 2022 Grammy Music Awards, you might recall hearing the Goldfish jingle numerous times throughout the night, per People. In a commercial, the brand aired its 21-year-old jingle while encouraging viewers to write their own Goldfish jingle. After the third airing of the commercial, the brand began trending on Twitter. As iconic as the tune is, there's a chance you didn't know that the voice that belts it is the same one that sang the famous Chili's jingle (via Mental Floss).

If you grew up in the '90s, you probably remember hearing the iconic Chili's commercial blaring across the TV, singing, "I love my baby, baby, baby back ribs" in a deep, jazzy tone that begged to be remembered. The voice you heard, in the beginning, was probably that of William McCoy, who died in 2012, per Mental Floss. But if you remember the voice of the more recent version, you're likely thinking of Alvin Chea, the same man responsible for "The snack that smiles back," a tune heard in Goldfish commercials. Chea is a San Francisco native whose band "Take 6" has won ten Grammys throughout its career (via Singers).

After about a decade, Chili's chose Chea to re-record the jingle for a more modern offering. Along with Chea, the song also features Dorian Holley, Louis Price, and Oren Waters. Unfortunately, many Reddit users were not fans of the Chili's jingle. One user claimed last year that the commercial made them "never want to eat at a Chili's." One individual in the comments thought the original version was better than the re-recorded one. "At least the original had the rhythm match the syllables of the words. And it was short," they wrote. 

Love it or hate it, though, you can't deny that you remember it, which is what the brand wanted from the beginning.