10 Ads That Killed Dubstep

How marketing co-opted another musical genre that used to be cool

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It's a cultural shift as inevitable as the tide: No matter how deeply underground its roots run, every musical style is eventually co-opted by the corporate world. That's exactly what's happened with dubstep, a subgenre of electronic music that's more than a decade old but has abruptly become a go-to soundtrack of choice for marketers over the past two years. Today we look at 10 ads that helped cement dubstep's fateful journey from the recesses of experimental dance clubs to ads that pitch everything from cereal and discount clothes to Microsoft tablets and flavored booze.

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