I have to admit, when I first heard MIA sing “slang tang” during the opening salvo on Arular, I found it an awfully clever gesture. And I liked it. A lot.

I appreciated the allusion to a classic riddim and the winking rearticulation to describe how the gyal’s (s)language — London calling / speak the slang now / boys say wha / gwaan / girls say wha — had a certain tang to it, a distinctive flavor. Salt&pepper on a mango and whatnot.

And so I thought it quite apropos for Stu FatPlanet to name his recently launched podcast after the ‘nu‘ spelling of the phrase Wayne Smith injected into the global lexicon.

But now, having seen several times the new MIA-propelled commercial for Bud Light Lime (during last night’s Kansas-UNC game), the phrase suggests yet another meaning to me: rather than her slang having tang, MIA is in fact just slanging tangy beverages. [update! i’ve been corrected in a comment below; turns out it’s not MIA but santogold; even so, i think we can still argue that the spot is “MIA-propelled”; i mean, come on]

I should have suspected as much, previously hocking Hondas and all.

One question, tho: will MIA’s core audience really put down the PBR for BLL?

Ok, two: Who are the ad wizards who came up with this campaign?

A-B’s memo said it was aiming Bud Light Lime at light-beer drinkers aged 25 to 54 who prefer a “sweeter” beer, as well as “trendsetters and aspirers.”

p.s./i.e. —

Bud Light Lime (or “BL Lime,” as the beer may be titled on the clear bottles’ packaging) is expected to draw much of its sales from “Aspirers” — primarly blue-collar urban males who like mainstream imported beers like Heineken and Corona — and “Trendsetters,” who are very interested in fitness and may not like beer as much.