Advertising Space

About

Written by Robbie Williams and Stephen Duffy, Advertising Space was released on 12 December 2005 as the second single from Intensive Care. Reaching number eight in the UK and topping charts across Europe, it stands among Williams’ most poignant and ambitious works. The song is a tribute to Elvis Presley and other fallen icons, reflecting on fame, self-destruction and the way celebrity turns people into products after death.

Built on an elegant, slow-building melody with orchestral strings and piano, the track opens with the haunting line “There’s no earthly way of knowing what was in your heart.” Williams sings from the perspective of a fan mourning a legend who became an image, lamenting, “At what point did you realise that everybody loves your life but you?” The lyric “They poison you with compromise” reveals his empathy for those consumed by the machinery of fame, hinting at parallels with his own career.

It’s my ‘Candle in the Wind’ for Elvis. I love him and what he stood for, but it’s sad how he ended up — he became a bumper sticker, a clock on the wall. This is me tipping my hat to him.Robbie Williams

Directed by David LaChapelle, the video casts Williams as a tragic Elvis impersonator performing in a faded Blackpool ballroom, surrounded by neon lights and loneliness. His performance blurs reverence and vulnerability, transforming imitation into homage. Both musically and visually, Advertising Space captures the heart of Intensive Care: a meditation on fame, fragility and the ghosts that linger behind the spotlight.