White Stripes slams Air Force for ad with song close to their own.

Anti-War group the White Stripes is whining the Air Force used a song that sounds like their own in an ad put on during the Super Bowl. They put up the typical leftist we hate the war love support the troops but they also whine that was used in a recruiting effort which means they are full of it about supporting the troops. One thing to decry a war but another to decry simple recruitment efforts.

The White Stripes are fuming over a U.S. Air Force Reserve ad that aired during the Super Bowl, which they say used a re-recorded instrumental version of their breakout single “Fell in Love With a Girl” without permission. “The White Stripes take strong insult and objection to the Air Force Reserve presenting this advertisement with the implication that we licensed one of our songs to encourage recruitment during a war that we do not support,” the band says in a statement posted on their official site. The statement goes on to threaten “strong action to stop the ad containing this music.” As of this afternoon, the Air Force Reserve has already pulled the ad from the Web.

Air Force says sorry and the ad agency puts the blame on another musician who takes full responsibility over it.

Now a musician who worked on the ad, which has since been pulled from TV and the Web, is taking the blame — but he, too, insists any wrongdoing was unintentional. “It’s my responsibility,” Kem Kraft tells EW. “I’m the one who composed the music. And I had no idea it was like that [song].”

Kraft, 56, who earns his living in Salt Lake City composing and recording music for advertisements and films, was hired to work on the Air Force Reserve ad around last Christmas. “They said they wanted some high-energy music, and I gave them three demos, all of them a little bit different. They asked me to tweak the one that they preferred, so I beefed up the drums or whatnot, added some echo to my guitar part.”

Kraft says he was “absolutely” surprised to hear of the Stripes’ accusations this week. “I went to the website and I go, ‘Yeah, that kinda sounds close.’ [But] I don’t even listen to those guys.” Asked if he had ever heard “Fell in Love With a Girl” prior to the controversy, Kraft replies, “God, I might have somehow or somewhere. I don’t know. That’s not the kind of music I listen to.”