Distressingly and confusingly, an instrumental cover of 'The Message' was also used to soundtrack a series of
UK television adverts for
Hoffmeister lager back in the early-80s. The adverts involved a man in a bear suit - with typical 'rude boy' gear including a shiny polyester jacket and a
pork pie hat, as the bear had dark-coloured
fur - lounging around, drinking, and playing snooker as bears were wont to do in the early-80s. The tagline was 'For great lager, follow the bear'. The adverts were quite controversial as it was found that children, such as myself, identified too readily with the bear, thus presumably promoting alcohol abuse amongst
minors.
In 1999 Channel Four and the Sunday Times selected it as the 58th greatest UK television advert of all time ever (just above the Audi's contemporary 'Vorsprung durch technik' series).
The bear was called 'George'. Quite what this had to do with a classic rap tune about blacks I do not know.