Ads that get right on your tits

[Firefox]

Where *is* this bird from?



Ireland? America? Somewhere down South?

Has she been dubbed with some kind of synthetic meta-accent designed by fiendish psychologists to grate along your auditory cortex like Freddy Krueger's claws along a rusty old sheet of metal?

[funkstar]

That's unnerving. Notice the shape of her mouth when she says "Online shopping? Should be simple, but it's not!" Clearly, that mouth is making a shape that doesn't fit the sound for the "not"; instead it looks like a very American "nat" kind of shape - try saying "not" while smiling; not simple.

This, and what looks like poor syncing makes it looks dubbed to me, and the voice sounds American trying for English, which is just weird.

[KlaxonCow]

Her name is Sandra Seeling and she's German. Aus Berlin.

This is what her voice actually sounds like:



This is what she sounds like in the German language version of the PayPal ad:



It appears that they dubbed over her, in order to get rid of her German accent, but, unfortunately, looking up the details of the ad, the voice over artist is uncredited, as it only lists Sandra Seeling as the "on-camera talent". So I can't further investigate whether the voice-over artist actually naturally sounds like that or is doing some really, really weird attempt at an Irish American accent, that's going very horribly wrong.

Ad agency listing:
http://creativity-online.com/work/paypa ... kout/35193

Unless, of course, it's also her doing the voice over too. But that seems strange and unlikely because, if it's her, why not get her to do it live? (she can speak English, after all, as we can see above). If you've got a problem with her German accent, then why get her to do some deeply weird fake Irish American accent, when you can just hire a voice-over artist who's naturally got the right accent?

Mind you, it's a terrible ADR job and the most bizarre accent. I have no fucking idea how that ever passed QA before being broadcast. It's just weird.

[gilesgoat]

Could be also/just a wrong sampling/pitch/recording issue that distorted sound ?

[Partz]

I was watching TV yesterday morning and caught that advert where the guy hides himself in the car seat and proceeds to visit a number of drive throughs.

Now... I've always prided myself on knowing the word for "SHIT" in multiple languages... after all, you never know when you might get caught short when abroad. And something stuck in my mind. The start of the advert says in huge letters plastered on the screen:

RAHAT Internet prankster.

This kicked off some deja vu when it came to me... Rahat is romanian for Shit!. Now i know this is the name the guy uses and if he thinks hes shit its up to him I guess... but I kind of sense that the makers of the advert are rubbing a huge point size of shit in our faces and thinking we don't even realise it I guess it could be worse... the guy could have been called "FUTE NUCI".

[VNVObit]

Could be also/just a wrong sampling/pitch/recording issue that distorted sound ?

or she learnt English from an Irish American. Sounds weird but have known people to have accents based on where they learnt English, knew a Spanish lady who spoke English with a strong German accent and a Swedish lady with a strong Limerick accent. The last was particularly bizarre considering she worked in an inner city Dublin hospital where the Dublin accent is particularly strong.

[KlaxonCow]

Did you guys miss the bit where I posted "this is what she actually sounds like", followed by a video of her giving an interview at a film festival, that I posted earlier?

That's her real voice and it doesn't sound Irish American or much like what's in that advert at all, quite frankly.


There's also her show reel here:



Which starts with a clip of her doing a Californian accent. Which isn't the greatest faux accent ever, granted, but it's passable enough to call into question why, if she can do an okay job of sounding pseudo-Californian there, then why can't she do another okay job of not doing a weird Irish American thing in that PayPal ad?

If she can do that just fine, then why ask her to do something else that's just weird and crap? If, that is, it's her doing the voice over at all. But then, if it's another actress - who we never actually see, so the casting can be solely 100% down to the voice alone - then why not hire an actual Irish / American / Irish American actress to deliver a genuine accent?

It's all just a bit strange. I don't quite know what happened in the production of that ad, but something odd did happen...

[sack]

Well the clearest thing in the toyota advert (about 19 seconds in) is actually 'fuck....' (Joder)

[VNVObit]

Did you guys miss the bit where I posted "this is what she actually sounds like", followed by a video of her giving an interview at a film festival, that I posted earlier?

didn't listen to it but was stating it is possible for someone to speak english with an odd accent

Would also add accents can change. I have a friend who was living in Limerick and working in Co. Cork (about an 80 mile trip each way) and his accent would change depending on whether he took the call at home or at work. He's actually from Dublin and has now recovered his South Dublin accent

then why not hire an actual Irish / American / Irish American actress to deliver a genuine accent?

How many movies would Sean Connery appear in then ?????

Actors are supposed to be able to imitate accents though they don't always get it right.

[guythp]

There seems to be a trend recently for certain adverts to use slow-ed down versions of older songs (the example that set me off on this rant is the new chanel no 5 ad I just sat through with my head in my FUCKING HANDS) - such as (in this case) some young ex-backpacker singing a 'romantic' version of the grease song 'you're the one that I want'. Another one features some woman singing a similarly inappropriate style of 'that's entertainment' by The Jam. These are the tip of an iceberg that should never have been.

I'm not posting an links to them, nor the youtube clips as I don't believe they should be spread. If you know what I'm mean, I hope you understand and possibly share my anger/bewilderment/incomprehension of doing this to a song.



... Fucking hell.

[Governmentyard]

Most songs start out as stripped-down acoustic versions and I suppose interpretation is doomed to have them regress to childhood at some point. The basic assumption of any advertisement is that you're probably a bit of a cunt, so it stands to reason that this reductive, cynical approach to using music is so prevalent. It's a sign of contempt and keen viewers are often likely to deserve it.

[StillGallonOfAlan]

Yes, the trend for re-arranged, wishy-washy acoustic versions of well known songs gets right on my tits. There's a piano version of 'Where Is My Mind' by Pixies on some ad or other which proper boils my piss. I don't know if part of it is the artist wanting the money but wanting to distance themselves slightly from corporate whoredom.

[fog]

I'M MAD AS HELL AND I'M NOT GOING TO PAY IT ANYMORE!!!

...is apparently how you sell furniture these days.

[Mark]

Not annoying, but very surprising:

Something like "Now available on DVD..."


"...the king of comedy...."




"... Jack Whitehall!"

A ha ha ha ha ha! Really? King of comedy? Fuck me, that's a stretch. Wow!

[Yak]

was that the "comedy in Wembley Arena" dude we saw an ad for just now?

because that had me wondering why the fuck anyone would want to go and see a comedian in a fucking arena. Or DVD of same.