Did I see the same advert that everyone else did? Archive clip of Piaf singing her famous I-regret-nothing song, subtitles of a couple of the genuine lyrics in English, followed by a dumb plug about missing a bargain on glasses - presumably the thing to be regretted. It's not a very clever commercial, but sick? Stooping? Insulting? I think that's reading a lot more into it than is actually in there.

I HATE that advertisers use classics to sell things but it happens all the time. This one is no different and no worse than a million others. Piaf is one of the enduring greats and her art will easily triumph over this petty coat-tail riding.

Think back for a minute to the days when she was a poor street-singer and the only wealth she possessed was her voice. What if some business exec had walked up to her and said, "We'll pay you X francs to sing an endorsement of Product Y." Assuming Product Y was not dangerous or morally offensive in some way, do you think she would have hesitated?

My feeling is that she'd get a good laugh out of the Specsavers commercial. Nothing they or anyone else can do will hurt her. And maybe - just MAYBE - there's some young 'un out there who has never ventured beyond pop music and the current crop of downloads who will hear this and think, Hey - who's that? She's GOOD. Where can I hear more?   TV exposure (unless it's been deliberately distorted to make the performer sound bad) usually does little harm - and it could gain her a wider fanbase.