My old pal, Travis Shelton, was complaining this morning on Facebook about the number of ads on US television featuring spokesmen with British accents. His post struck a nerve, since Honey and I were just talking about that last week.
I guess it got its start about 15 years ago with Brit actor Jake Wood as the voice of the Geico Gecko, and it went from there. On American television today, British actresses sing the praises of everything from Viagra to toothpaste to toilet paper.
Apparently American ad agencies have decided that British accents sound classier, better educated, and appeal to what they think is an American sense of inferiority.
I don't buy it, and I don't buy any of the products they are pushing, either.
For what it's worth the whole ad thing works both ways, with many American actors getting voice-over gigs in ads aired in the UK.
This British Toyota ad features the voice of Garrison Keillor, of Prairie Home Companion fame. You can't get much more American than that.
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