# Ads claiming "Real People Not Actors" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 10, 2016, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ads-claiming-real-people-not-actors/768150 "2016-10-10T15:20:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2016, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ads-claiming-real-people-not-actors/768150/21 "2016-10-10T17:43:50Z")
the new thing is for stores is "real customers who were aware we might use their comments " or "real customers but they were paid or compensated " ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2016, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ads-claiming-real-people-not-actors/768150/22 "2016-10-10T17:45:26Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > What gets me: _You_ go into your doctor tomorrow (or 7 months from now when you can actually get an appointment) and demand he prescribe **Jamitol** for your symptoms and see if he takes advice from _you_. I’m surprised Big Pharm wastes money on ads like these for a relatively small group of consumers (i.e., doctors). I asked my doctor about shingles vaccines, (As Seen On TV!), something that actually seems useful, and possibly applicable, but she completely rejected it for me. The other stuff, though - I think my doctor already knows about valid treatments for my…whatever. Drugs that work aren’t kept secret from doctors (as you note - the actual primary market.) She even had this cute [Lunesta clock](http://www.terapeak.com/worth/round-wall-clock-for-insomniacs-with-butterfly-second-hand-advertising-lunesta/181205274668/) with the glowing butterfly. I don’t use the stuff, nor do i want to sleepwalk and murder people, but the clock is cute. And I don’t have any doubt about where she got it. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2016, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ads-claiming-real-people-not-actors/768150/23 "2016-10-10T17:47:51Z")
Big Pharma does it because it works. The sell lots of Jamitol (great product name 🙂 ) via docs that are tired of listening to whining patients. Placebo or no it’s easier to just write the scrip and have the patient go away happier if (perhaps) no healthier. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2016, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ads-claiming-real-people-not-actors/768150/24 "2016-10-10T17:52:07Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Big Pharma does it because it works. The sell lots of Jamitol (great product name 🙂 ) via docs that are tired of listening to whining patients. Placebo or no it’s easier to just write the scrip and have the patient go away happier if (perhaps) no healthier. That’s entirely cynical; you’re my new best friend. I stole **Jamitol** from a 40+ year old SNL “ad.” ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2016, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ads-claiming-real-people-not-actors/768150/25 "2016-10-10T17:54:54Z")
While watching “Lets Make a Deal”, I thought, the contestants aren’t normal off the street people. They are selected because they can put on a show. I imagine it is the same with car commercials. The “real people” are selected for a variety of reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2016, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ads-claiming-real-people-not-actors/768150/26 "2016-10-10T17:57:39Z")
* * * > [@harmonicamoon](#): > > While watching “Lets Make a Deal”, I thought, the contestants aren’t normal off the street people. They are selected because they can put on a show. > > I imagine it is the same with car commercials. The “real people” are selected for a variety of reasons. Just like audience members in a hypnotist show. The performer doesn’t select audience members that _can be_ hypnotized, he is selecting members willing to _pretend to be_ hypnotized. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2016, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ads-claiming-real-people-not-actors/768150/27 "2016-10-10T18:12:32Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > And kayaker, where’d you get that disclaimer? That’s brilliant nonsense! It’s full of words I know, but they aren’t saying anything. At all. It’s from a Gujarat Commisioner of Transportation Automated Test Track disclaimer. Gujarat is a state in India. I assume they used some sort of automated translation. [http://drivingtesttrack.in/disclaimer.htm](http://drivingtesttrack.in/disclaimer.htm) ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2016, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ads-claiming-real-people-not-actors/768150/28 "2016-10-10T18:19:37Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I asked my doctor about shingles vaccines, (As Seen On TV!), something that actually seems useful, and possibly applicable, but she completely rejected it for me. > > The other stuff, though - I think my doctor already knows about valid treatments for my…whatever. Drugs that work aren’t kept secret from doctors (as you note - the actual primary market.) She even had this cute [Lunesta clock](http://www.terapeak.com/worth/round-wall-clock-for-insomniacs-with-butterfly-second-hand-advertising-lunesta/181205274668/) with the glowing butterfly. I don’t use the stuff, nor do i want to sleepwalk and murder people, but the clock is cute. And I don’t have any doubt about where she got it. my cousin has worked for various clinics and such and the swag she gets is unbelievable her favorite are the companies that takes everyone to an expensive lunch and pays for it (the place she works for now is into cosmetic stuff and tends to have the more high end medicines and instruments ) When they started there one rep came in and did a sales pitch and went to take everyone to lunch … named some nice places and the rest of the office picked chili’s … which she doesn’t care for She later found why they liked going there after she seen the 600$ bar tab … and another 200 for food Sad thing is that wasn’t even close to to the highest one the guy had paid out … but he told hey they got it back by write offs and people drunkenly ordering the 300$ skin crème in a case of 30 and such ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2016, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ads-claiming-real-people-not-actors/768150/29 "2016-10-10T18:52:44Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > It’s from a Gujarat Commisioner of Transportation Automated Test Track disclaimer. > > Gujarat is a state in India. I assume they used some sort of automated translation. > > [http://drivingtesttrack.in/disclaimer.htm](http://drivingtesttrack.in/disclaimer.htm) That is truly beautiful. It’s not word salad. It’s sensible if real murky. If you make that your sig and use it often I bet pretty soon we’ll have another peasant’s revolt like the one \*\*Snowboarder Bo \*\*created with his gol durn quarry filling with stuff. It’d be historic. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2016, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ads-claiming-real-people-not-actors/768150/30 "2016-10-10T22:38:17Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Big Pharma does it because it works. The sell lots of Jamitol (great product name 🙂 ) via docs that are tired of listening to whining patients. Placebo or no it’s easier to just write the scrip and have the patient go away happier if (perhaps) no healthier. I wish my Dr was that easy. He made me get off Ambien because he thought there were better, non-pharmaceutical, ways to address my sleep issues. I considered dumping him but it’s like a petty reason to sever a 20+ year relationship. Plus he’s seen me naked multiple times and never laughed once. In my face. Or hearing. ---
**Author:** ![stosh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@stosh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stosh)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ads-claiming-real-people-not-actors/768150/31 "2016-10-11T01:15:29Z")
They start out with a couple hundred people and we only see the 5 or 6 who say what they want us to hear. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ads-claiming-real-people-not-actors/768150/32 "2016-10-11T15:53:51Z")
It means they are actual customers and not actors paid to represent customers. It doesn’t mean they are not directed of coached to say their lines better. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ads-claiming-real-people-not-actors/768150/33 "2016-10-11T16:17:57Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > There’s a CW song (no idea of title, age of song or name of group) about this and one of the side effects is DEATH. If you experience DEATH, please notify your etc… Dave Barry once wrote that pharmaceutical ads on TV give you two wildly conflicting messages: 1. You _really_ need to be taking this medication, right now! 2. This medication will probably kill you. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ads-claiming-real-people-not-actors/768150/34 "2016-10-11T17:19:11Z")
I enjoy visualizing the auditions for these ads: Interviewer: “OK, that looked great – you learned your lines quickly, and said them very naturally, while blocking well and facing the camera. Very professional. Now one question for you. These ads will say that they’re not using actors. You’re not an actor are you?” Auditioner: “Well, I …” Interviewer (interrupting): "And by ‘actor’ we mean someone who has been a full-time professional actor for ten years with absolutely no other sources of income at all during that time. You’re not an ‘actor’ by that definition are you? " Auditioner: “Uh, No?” Interviewer: “Great, thanks. We’ve got your agent’s info right here on your headshot; we’ll be contacting them shortly.” ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ads-claiming-real-people-not-actors/768150/35 "2016-10-11T17:57:58Z")
They are real people. They are recruited for a “focus group” and they get an honorarium, or whatever you call it when it’s a focus group–so they are being paid for it. There is not a single take but there is like a 30-minute interview/focus group thing where they are asked various questions in various ways, and then the good bits are cherrypicked into the ad. Some of the recruiting is done on Craigslist and some if it is from people who are walking into car dealerships looking at cars. These are probably not the only ways, but it’s two of them. They do get told, “Walk over here,” “Look at the car, not the camera,” and various other things by the production staff but in the ones I’m familiar with they don’t do multiple takes, for instance, they ask a question, and if nobody answers it well enough they just won’t use that in their final ad. They are asked leading questions like, “What do you love about this car?” Lots of footage for a 60-second spot. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ads-claiming-real-people-not-actors/768150/36 "2016-10-11T18:08:19Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > You’ve done everything but put a nail in it: They are _first-time_ actors. > > I’d give good odds that many of them go for a SAG/AFTRA card as their next step. Not entirely unreasonably or without purpose. They are not actors. They are selected from the demographics the marketing people think will buy the car, i.e. parents of young families for mom-mobiles (with Wi-Fi!). The only person following a script is the leader of the focus group. He or she (usually he) does ask some very leading questions. They get an honorarium for being in the focus group, whether their footage is used or not. If the footage is used, they will get a bonus. They have to sign a release, and the release says that they are not professional actors. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ads-claiming-real-people-not-actors/768150.md?page=1)