Aussie music legend Normie Rowe has defended his role in a widely-mocked Coles advertisement with Curtis Stone, telling critics "don't get your knickers in a twist".
The TV ad, for Coles' range of no-added hormones beef, features 63-year-old Rowe singing a reworked version of his 1960s hit, Shakin' All Over.
It has taken a beating online, with the YouTube clip attracting 514 dislikes and just 24 likes, and commenters calling it "embarrassing" and "horrendous".
But Rowe says it was all done in good humour and people must have "nothing better to do" if they are complaining about the ad.
"I was given a script to make work," he told ninemsn.
"They were fairly corny lyrics I had to sing, but that's what an actor is paid to do … I wouldn't have written those lyrics myself."
Rowe admits much of the criticism directed at him has been hard to deal with but he refuses to be labelled a sell-out.
"I've still got a full vocal range and I don't need auto tune," he said.
"If you think I've sold out, so have all my shows."
The Gold Coast pop star has stirred controversy in the past — his 1965 song 'It Ain't Necessarily So' was banned from a Catholic radio station for its supposedly sacrilegious lyrics — but he says he wants to lead a quiet life.
"It seems controversy has been following me all my life," he said.
"It just seems to be the way my choices turn out. I'm a radical conservative. Or a conservative radical. "
The Advertising Standards Bureau has received no official complaints about the advertisement.
Coles is also standing by its ad with Jon Church, Coles Head of Communications, saying it will "absolutely" continue to run on television.
"We like to make ads that are fun and get people talking. Love it or loathe it, you won't forget it in a hurry," he said.
The Advertising Standards Bureau has received no official complaints about the advertisement.
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