Reserve Command officials respond to Super Bowl ad allegation

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Air Force Reserve Command officials released a statement Feb. 9, following allegations from recording artists claiming their song was used illegally Feb. 7 in a Super Bowl regional TV advertisement.

Recording artists, The White Stripes, posted a statement on their official Web site claiming the Air Force Reserve Command used, "without permission," a "re-recorded" version of the song "Fell In Love With a Girl" in an ad that ran during the Super Bowl.

"The Air Force Reserve commissioned an original piece of music for its one-time, 30-second Super Bowl regional advertisement," said Lt. Col. Leslie Pratt, Air Force Reserve Command director of public affairs. "As soon as we realized there was a question about our ad, we immediately pulled it and have no plan to re-use it. Our goal was only to attract the best and brightest Americans to become Citizen Airmen."

The advertisement is no longer viewable on the command's recruiting Web site.

According to Colonel Pratt, the Air Force Reserve's advertising agency, Blaine Warren Advertising LLC, hired Fast Forward Music to score original music for the commercial.
 
"We had no intention to use existing music from The White Stripes or any other performer," Colonel Pratt said.  "Any similarity to them or other artists was certainly not intentional."