They've brought that "I can't believe it's not butter" ad from ages ago and cheekily just redubbed it with a different soundtrack. That's astonishingly lazy, even by most advertisers standards.
I saw the Bailey's ad on Spanish cable TV and the ending has been changed. The one where she kisses the blokes till she finds out which one has nicked her drink. I always thought this ad was very dubious anyway as you can imagine the guys in her local saying "yeah she'll snog anyone, it'll just cost you the price of a drink." That aside, the version I saw ended with a passionate kiss rather than her waving the glass in his face. Is this just a different ending for a different country, or has it been changed over here as well?
Many years ago there was an ad featuring some posh French tart who was persuaded to try a new headache cure, whereupon she said, and I quote:
"Wayl et meh nawt bay shomparn, bart et list eet iss goot fur ma eddek."
A little while later this was revoiced by an English actress with a slightly "French" accent and the message suddenly became clear:
"Well, it may not be champagne, but at least it is good for my headache."
It was still a crap slogan and they soon dropped the ad.
Advertising is obviously money for old rope but the sinister thing is that it only has an effect on children and adults with child-like minds. This is especially true of "attitude"-based stuff such as cars, perfumes, aftershaves etc. The artistic symbolism and hints of increased sexual attraction or popularity amongst your peers are about as subtle as a big sign saying "SUBTLE HINT" being waved at you whilst a man shouts "HEY! YOU! YES YOU! This is a subtle hint! PURCHASE OUR SHITE!"
A thing that annoys me is that in Northern Ireland you occasionally get an advertisement with English people in it that has been overdubbed with (Southern) Irish accents. Now whilst I am a little dubious about the reasons for doing this in the first place for the ROI audience, I don't see the point at all for Northern Ireland since we don't sound anything like them. It would be different if some of their ads were overdubbed with Northern Irish accents, but it doesn't happen. I prefer to keep the original voices, be they English, Scottish, American, or whatever.
One at the moment which comes to mind is that one for Playstation with some big-headed Scottish girl in it. It was overdubbed with some Irish girl for Ireland, and they changed Grimsby to somewher I'd never heard of in ROI. The thing is - I know exactly where Grimsby is, but not this other place. I'm sure most people in Northern Ireland would be the same.
That Bailies ad a few years ago with Marcus Tandy out of Eldorado in it (I forget his name) was overdubbed with an Irish accent in its second run which coincided with Eldorado meaning everyone knew who he was and wondered why he suddenly had an Irish accent.
The worst have to be those kinder ads that they overdub. The lib-sync is appauling! Although, conversely, the original, dubbed, Ferrero Rochet ad was the best!
This sounds like a desperate attempt to A) be politically correct, and B) not offend any Catholics who might be tempted to throw a petrol bomb through the screen at the sound of an English voice......
Surely it would have the opposite effect given that (a) The accents are southern and therefore imply that north and south are all just part of the same mishmash and can be treated as a single "market" (if not country) and (b) The Unionists seem to be real trouble makers at the moment.
My pet hades are ads made and shot in NTSC for North America - and then have the voices dubbed into UK English.
...and now a true story:
About three years ago there was a terrible three-minute advert for Canadian Tourism. It was smudgy NTSC VT, with people dressed *posh* pretending to be *English* with bad dubbing. I watched it to get the number for the brochure. About eight months later, I got a courtesy call, and they asked me for their opinions on the advert. I told them. It was changed by the following year. A rare case of someone listening to opinions, feedback and criticism.
(Oh, and I still haven't visited Canada yet...)
>Surely it would have the opposite effect given that (a) The accents are southern and therefore imply that north and south are all just part of the same mishmash and can be treated as a single "market" (if not country)
Then why aren't there both NI and ROI accents if it is a single market? I agree it is sort of a single market, but IMO the British Isles as a whole is treated more and more as a single unit for advertisers.
and (b) The Unionists seem to be real trouble makers at the moment.
How do you figure that? Or do you mean loyalists?
'Loyalists' are, I suppose Unionists in that they want to keep the Union, but I would not call them that because they have spent decades murdering people and they seem to be continuing to do so.
What I would term unionists are people who want to maintain the Union but do so by democratic politics.
There is the same distinction between Nationalists and Republicans.
But what your point has to do with advertising is beyond me. Personally thinking Ireland is 'all the same' smacks of ignorance, as does, to a lesser extent, the thinking that the four parts of the UK are all the same.
As for advertising, they should use the original accent as much as possible.
Before we get too political, i'll change the subject.
The Vanish advert with the woman demonstrating it in the supermarket. Her voice has recently been dubbed...and not very well. Try looking at her lips to see the words NOT fitting in.
Oh bloody hell I've wandered into barking loony irish religious bullshit land.
If you ask me it's all that Jesus's fault. What a cunt! Got what was coming to him.*
* Not really. This is only the Internet. Please don't try and kill me with cyber-cemtex or something.
"I've got nothing against the Pope, it's just his holier-than-thou attitude I can't stand."
>Oh bloody hell I've wandered into barking loony irish religious bullshit land.
Just keep digging...
>* Not really. This is only the Internet. Please don't try and kill me with cyber-cemtex or something.
and digging...
Look I was only trying to explain something - I didn't want to get into a political discussion. But anyway...
That last posting may have seemed a little harsh - I really hate political discussion sometimes but if I get going - well...