# Gaah, Stop Dubbing American Ads With English Voices!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 15, 2004, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaah-stop-dubbing-american-ads-with-english-voices/269428 "2004-10-15T18:42:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaah-stop-dubbing-american-ads-with-english-voices/269428/21 "2004-10-15T22:13:02Z")
> [@betenoir](#): > > … it’s only when they want to promote something particularly American, English, Austrailian, etc about it do they not dub it… > > And there are American ads that are dubbed from…er…proper English, Spanish, etc etc…because, yes, they think unless that’s what they’re promoting, it would be distracting. The mistake that the advertisers are making here is what was being pitted. We hear American accents every hour of our waking lives…why would hearing one in a generic advert be so distracting? ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaah-stop-dubbing-american-ads-with-english-voices/269428/22 "2004-10-15T22:22:47Z")
“We hear American accents every hour of our waking lives…” Then I’d think you’d be happy for the break 😛 . ---
**Author:** ![Greathouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greathouse/32/2992_2.png) [@Greathouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greathouse)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaah-stop-dubbing-american-ads-with-english-voices/269428/23 "2004-10-16T00:47:46Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > I guess I’m pitting the (slightly) patronizing need someone felt for their ad to be dubbed with English accents for airing in the UK. Like we brits need to hear english voiced in our ads or we’ll get upset. We get American ads that aren’t dubbed all the time, and it does not seem remotely odd. It _does_ seem odd when we get an ad done in the American style but with badly dubbed english audio. So the advert becomes less effective than if the original american audio was used. Is it possible that the reason they over dubbed it is because they were advertising something like a quarter pounder? You guys are metric, right? Y’all guys probably call it something else. If the product names are changed from country to country then it would probably be cheaper to just over dub it and use the same video footage. That’s just a SWAG though. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaah-stop-dubbing-american-ads-with-english-voices/269428/24 "2004-10-16T00:53:13Z")
> [@Greathouse](#): > > Is it possible that the reason they over dubbed it is because they were advertising something like a quarter pounder? You guys are metric, right? Y’all guys probably call it something else. If the product names are changed from country to country then it would probably be cheaper to just over dub it and use the same video footage. That’s just a SWAG though. We still call it a Quarter Pounder here. We’re flexible like that. ---
**Author:** ![Greathouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greathouse/32/2992_2.png) [@Greathouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greathouse)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaah-stop-dubbing-american-ads-with-english-voices/269428/25 "2004-10-16T00:56:24Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > We still call it a Quarter Pounder here. We’re flexible like that. Oh, nevermind then. I guess I’ve just seen Pulp Fiction too many times. 😃 Yes, yes…I know that John Travolta didn’t go to England in the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaah-stop-dubbing-american-ads-with-english-voices/269428/26 "2004-10-16T01:05:20Z")
I should have added, (after “we’re flexible like that”), “unlike France”. (which If I remember correctly is the country Sam Jackson refers to.) Afterall, The french government are the people who banned muslim headscarfs in schools, which, even being an atheist, I say was out of order. These girls want to conform with what they (strongly) believe in. They are unlikely to ever reject their beliefs. So making illegal one of their customs is downright cruel. ---
**Author:** ![Tenar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@Tenar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenar)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaah-stop-dubbing-american-ads-with-english-voices/269428/27 "2004-10-16T01:17:13Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > I guess I’m pitting the (slightly) patronizing need someone felt for their ad to be dubbed with English accents for airing in the UK. I wonder if the less than universal approbation the U.S. is enjoying at the moment had any influence on the decision. “You want Freedom Fries with that?” ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaah-stop-dubbing-american-ads-with-english-voices/269428/28 "2004-10-16T02:45:47Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > I should have added, (after “we’re flexible like that”), “unlike France”. (which If I remember correctly is the country Sam Jackson refers to.) What would you have preferred they called it? Le quart de livre au fromage? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaah-stop-dubbing-american-ads-with-english-voices/269428/29 "2004-10-16T07:15:43Z")
As a Briton living in America, I have to say… you’d be amazed how many ads HERE use British voice actors. I think it’s because they play well to the whole country, whereas Americans tend to have strong attachments or dislikes for other Americans based largely on where the hell they come from. (See John Edwards play the electable good Southern boy in _Decision 2004_!) ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaah-stop-dubbing-american-ads-with-english-voices/269428/30 "2004-10-16T16:21:18Z")
If I ever go to England I must be sure to spend some time watching TV just so I can see these dubbed over commercials myself. Seriously, this is the sort of linguistic quirk that I find fascinating. ---
**Author:** ![Hemlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Hemlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hemlock)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaah-stop-dubbing-american-ads-with-english-voices/269428/31 "2004-10-16T16:28:50Z")
Surely, there’s a simple explanation. Shooting a TV ad is expensive. Dubbing a voice-over is cheap. The advertisers think they’re saving a lot of money because (they think) you’re too stupid to work out that it’s dubbed. TV ads insult your intelligence, and this way you get twice the insulting of intelligence for your money. Or theirs. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaah-stop-dubbing-american-ads-with-english-voices/269428/32 "2004-10-16T16:38:28Z")
There’s some kind of regulation in Ireland to provide work for Irish actors which means a certain number need to be dubbed into Irish accents. On some cable channels, we also get the ads that the Britishers see. Thus we get English ads dubbed into Irish accents. We also get US ads dubbed into English accents. And we get US ads dubbed into Irish accents. Then we get Euro-ads dubbed into English accents. And Euro-ads dubbed into Irish accents. (And for some reason, these Euro ads all think that milk content is a great selling point for chocolate.) And the dubbing is almost universally SHITE. Why the hell do they bother? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaah-stop-dubbing-american-ads-with-english-voices/269428/33 "2004-10-16T17:26:11Z")
What I found interesting were the TV ads in the U.K. which were clearly shot in the U.S. (as was obvious from the backgrounds) and in which people used American accents (in so far as they spoke at all) but which were _never_ shown in the U.S. They were made strictly for the British TV market. Apparently the advertisers felt that to sell the product it worked better if they showed it being used in the U.S. It was also interesting to occasionally see TV ads with American celebrities endorsing products which shown strictly on British TV. A couple of recent examples are the one with Kim Cattrall visiting her “auntie,” talking about tea, and the one with William Shatner in a bathrobe at the family’s breakfast, talking about cereal. Well, O.K., actually both Cattrall and Shatner are Canadian. Incidentally, the language is English and the dialects are called American English, British English, Canadian English, Australian English, Irish English, etc. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaah-stop-dubbing-american-ads-with-english-voices/269428/34 "2004-10-16T17:38:24Z")
> [@slortar](#): > > Does it make you feel any better to know that a lot of our ads have speakers with English accents to begin with? For some reason the accent is perceived as more intelligent than, say, a deep southern drawl. For some reason?! Get a grip, man! It’s bloody obvious. For starters, old bean, it isn’t an accent. It’s English as God intended it. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaah-stop-dubbing-american-ads-with-english-voices/269428/35 "2004-10-16T17:43:27Z")
> [@Wendell Wagner](#): > > Incidentally, the language is English and the dialects are called American English, British English, Canadian English, Australian English, Irish English, etc. “British English” might be official in the US, but it’s a complete misnomer. It actually means English English, as Scots English and Welsh English are vastly different. [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaah-stop-dubbing-american-ads-with-english-voices/269428/36 "2004-10-16T17:48:56Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > “British English” might be official in the US, but it’s a complete misnomer. It actually means English English, as Scots English and Welsh English are vastly different. [/hijack] Fair point. Perhaps it’s called British English because English English sounds like a misprint. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaah-stop-dubbing-american-ads-with-english-voices/269428/37 "2004-10-16T17:49:08Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > It actually means English English, as Scots English and Welsh English are vastly different. [/hijack] And Geordie English, And Scouse English, and Brummie English, and Cockney English. There’s a Geordie I know who I can’t understand a single bloody word of. (althoug I understand most geordies perfectly) ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaah-stop-dubbing-american-ads-with-english-voices/269428/38 "2004-10-16T17:50:22Z")
And Manx English. (ranges between scouse and brummie) ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaah-stop-dubbing-american-ads-with-english-voices/269428/39 "2004-10-16T17:52:00Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > And Geordie English, And Scouse English, and Brummie English, and Cockney English. > > There’s a Geordie I know who I can’t understand a single bloody word of. (althoug I understand most geordies perfectly) But British English (notwithstandig **jjimm’s** point) refers to the “standard”, in other words a somewhat idealised version of “Home Counties” English. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaah-stop-dubbing-american-ads-with-english-voices/269428/40 "2004-10-16T17:56:44Z")
Ok. I’d say British English is a valid term. I’d say it’s the accent most BBC newsreaders use. I think I have it. I’ve been told I have no detectable accent by several people. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaah-stop-dubbing-american-ads-with-english-voices/269428.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaah-stop-dubbing-american-ads-with-english-voices/269428.md?page=3)