# Is an American accent used to sell products overseas? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 23, 2012, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-american-accent-used-to-sell-products-overseas/619648 "2012-04-23T01:06:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-american-accent-used-to-sell-products-overseas/619648/1 "2012-04-23T01:06:12Z")
In the US, TV commercials often use a character with a distinctive accent - the Geico Geko, for example. I was wondering if other countries have ads that feature American accents, and what they might be pitching. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-american-accent-used-to-sell-products-overseas/619648/2 "2012-04-23T02:26:17Z")
Rarely here in the UK. There are occasional examples, but they’re notable. I also admit that I can’t for the life of me remember what any of them are, which suggests that they’re not very effective! ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-american-accent-used-to-sell-products-overseas/619648/3 "2012-04-23T02:52:19Z")
Not here in AU. Only if it’s the exact same ad that the US gets with no editing, especially some of the cheesier infomercials. What we do have, for some reason, is a lot of ads with British accents. And I see we’re now getting ads for a supermarket chain presented by [Dawn French](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFfmvPbtmj4)\*, of all people. \*Who has recently lost a lot of weight, and is trying to gain it back via her eyelashes ---
**Author:** ![sisu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sisu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sisu)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-american-accent-used-to-sell-products-overseas/619648/4 "2012-04-23T03:28:57Z")
American accents are sometimes used in Australia when it is a celeb promoting something [tiger woods etc] but to be honest most aussies would switch off if we heard y’all etc. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-american-accent-used-to-sell-products-overseas/619648/5 "2012-04-23T03:56:04Z")
In America we get British and French accents to make things have an air of sophistication to them. They’ll use an Italian accent to hock Italian food, and similarly Australian for Australian beer. But what strong reason would there be to use an American accent in another country? It’s not like the generic American accent is known for sounding particularly appealing, classy, or trustworthy. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-american-accent-used-to-sell-products-overseas/619648/6 "2012-04-23T04:07:55Z")
A surprising number of TV commercials in Korea are in English, and they tend more towards an American dialect than a British one, though the speakers are Korean. The international cable channel commercials have a lot of both US and UK accents. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-american-accent-used-to-sell-products-overseas/619648/7 "2012-04-23T04:55:26Z")
I have heard a couple of commercials employing what seems to be an attempt at a Texan accent for an American Style Grill. ---
**Author:** ![Girl\_From\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Girl\_From\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girl_From_Mars)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-american-accent-used-to-sell-products-overseas/619648/8 "2012-04-23T05:24:25Z")
It’s worth mentioning though that many ads here in Australia are US/UK/European produced with an Aussie voice dub. Particularly car and FMCG products like toothpaste etc. Sometimes they even stick in some random ‘Aussie shot’ to help convince us that it’s locally shot. (Colgate Total, I’m looking at you…) ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-american-accent-used-to-sell-products-overseas/619648/9 "2012-04-23T05:29:25Z")
There was a series of ads in Australia a few years back that used American accents: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/lx_kxp3R2oU/hqdefault.jpg "Commonwealth Bank ad, Florida or New Zealand?") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lx_kxp3R2oU) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/p3n_ZMVLDqg/hqdefault.jpg "Commonwealth Bank ad, Dollarmites money box") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3n_ZMVLDqg) Pretty sure those are fake accents tho. ---
**Author:** ![Charley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/97f17d/32.png) [@Charley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charley)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-american-accent-used-to-sell-products-overseas/619648/10 "2012-04-23T06:51:51Z")
Occasionally we get non-dubbed US commercials, usually on the cheaper satellite/cable channels. It is fairly jarring, and it feels lazy to me (not the accent, the lack of redub!). The exceptions are the celebrity endorsements of course. I can remember Burger King ads, but not really any other cases where an American accent is used to achieve a particular effect. ---
**Author:** ![blindboyard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindboyard/32/2833_2.png) [@blindboyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blindboyard)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-american-accent-used-to-sell-products-overseas/619648/11 "2012-04-23T08:01:20Z")
Sometimes in adverts for movies, maybe, in the same way Dolmio use claymation Italians with Mario moustaches and thick accents to advertise their Italian food. Otherwise, more Russian-accented meerkats than Americans. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/96bed5/32.png) [@Cat\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Jones)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-american-accent-used-to-sell-products-overseas/619648/12 "2012-04-23T08:52:26Z")
Irish radio seems to use the US accent at times, on Today FM I can think of 2 - for a US insurance company setting up there and for a “shopping village”, ie out of town mall. I’m alos pretty squre I’ve heard an American accent used on commercials here in France but it’s more to poke fun I’m afraid. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-american-accent-used-to-sell-products-overseas/619648/13 "2012-04-23T08:56:16Z")
There are ads for Ben & Jerry’s ice cream which the German movie theatres run. The voice-over is in German but has a thick American accent. ---
**Author:** ![glaeken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@glaeken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glaeken)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-american-accent-used-to-sell-products-overseas/619648/14 "2012-04-23T09:39:42Z")
An advert I can think of at the moment on UK TV that features American accents is for Ocean Spray. It particularly seems to be playing on the folksy type nature of the growers from where ever that company is based. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-american-accent-used-to-sell-products-overseas/619648/15 "2012-04-23T09:44:48Z")
Here they’re used humorously. I’m sorry to say, but an American accent sounds incredibly silly in Hebrew. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-american-accent-used-to-sell-products-overseas/619648/16 "2012-04-23T10:05:09Z")
> [@tellyworth](#): > > There was a series of ads in Australia a few years back that used American accents: > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lx\_kxp3R2oU](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lx_kxp3R2oU) > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3n\_ZMVLDqg](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3n_ZMVLDqg) > > Pretty sure those are fake accents tho. The accents seem to me to be real. It’s interesting that they appear to use Americans in the spots to make fun of them. in the ads, the American guys ineffectively pitch bad ideas to an investment company and are quickly shot down (stupid Americans!). ---
**Author:** ![Corcaigh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Corcaigh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corcaigh)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-american-accent-used-to-sell-products-overseas/619648/17 "2012-04-23T18:40:50Z")
For the most part, adverts are dubbed with an Irish accent here. > [@Cat\_Jones](#): > > for a US insurance company setting up there > [@psychonaut](#): > > There are ads for Ben & Jerry’s ice cream > [@glaeken](#): > > An advert I can think of at the moment on UK TV that features American accents is for Ocean Spray. These ^^ are examples of ads that have American accents, I also remember one for an American car that was [I believe] an actual American advert that was being shown over here. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-american-accent-used-to-sell-products-overseas/619648/18 "2012-04-23T19:03:34Z")
Thanks for all the answers. Of course, there isn’t a single “American” accent any more than there is a single English one. I don’t sound much like someone from Alabama or Maine. That said, I can understand why people might like to poke fun at the stereotypical “American” accent - Texans (like Bush) can really sound like morons, even to Americans. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-american-accent-used-to-sell-products-overseas/619648/19 "2012-04-23T19:18:02Z")
In Ireland it’s common enough. Commerical presentation type shows are often narrated in American accents and some local products use cod-American accents to sell their wares. There was an ad recently for 48 months, this mobile phone contract aimed at 18 year olds, it was narrated by an American but meant to be about Irish teens so used typically Irish names. It was odd and may well have distracted from the ad’s message. ---
**Author:** ![palacheck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a88e57/32.png) [@palacheck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/palacheck)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-american-accent-used-to-sell-products-overseas/619648/20 "2012-04-23T19:19:25Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Thanks for all the answers. > > Of course, there isn’t a single “American” accent any more than there is a single English one. I don’t sound much like someone from Alabama or Maine. > > That said, I can understand why people might like to poke fun at the stereotypical “American” accent - Texans (like Bush) can really sound like morons, even to Americans. I think a subdued Texan accent is one of the most pleasant accents on the planet. Not a fan of Aussie accents myself. Stop phrasing everything as a question, it’s exhausting. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-american-accent-used-to-sell-products-overseas/619648.md?page=2)