Scene and heard

Why does The New York Times have to have commercials with actors doing very poor impersonations of real people speaking their own words? Years ago, when I thought I would give extra work a try, I bought a couple of Back Stage magazines. It is or at least was common for some acting jobs to require applicants to be able to ‘do real’. It is (or was) a category in forms for agencies. Some of these actors used to be believable Somehow, the standards have declined!

IDT Penny Saver long distance service: I HATE this commercial! It starts with a really annoying woman doing an awful ‘English’ accent. Does she think all English people make those awful faces and jerky movements when they talk? Do the makers of the commercial think that? She is followed by an Indian woman who obviously doesn’t usually speak with an Indian accent, and a Brazilian man. They all come back at the end of the commercial. The ‘English’ woman manages to become even more annoying; the Indian woman calls her family in India from a ball game. The guy, whose accent had seemed quite authentic, suddenly becomes half American. Between these appearances, we are shown a price list: UK 2 cents a minute; Japan 4 cents and so on. And we are told of a “low” 49 cent connection charge. Low? Who fucking says it’s low!!! So many calls are short for various reasons; this service is only the cheapest available if you talk for over 50 minutes! Buy a Boss card – that runs you a fraction under 3 cents a minute and no connection charge.

Boycott products where commercials treat you as if you are stupid – even if you actually are!