"Actual customer, NOT an actor"

[Crazedclerkthe2nd]

Ok so this may seem pedantic and asinine, but I really can't stand when commercials mention the line in the title or some variation thereof, such as:

"REAL customers, NOT actors!"

"Actual Company X customers!"

I saw a great one the other day, it read: "Testimonial from an actual company X customer read by an actor."

The reason this annoys me is because:

A) I don't really give a crap. I'm not going to care more or less about your company/product/services because you do or don't use actors in your commercials.

B) It's NOT true. If you are appearing in a TV commercial, guess what? You're an actor. Sure it may not be your main profession and you may not belong to a trade group, but the fact still stands.

[Andara Bledin]

A) I don't really give a crap. I'm not going to care more or less about your company/product/services because you do or don't use actors in your commercials.

B) It's NOT true. If you are appearing in a TV commercial, guess what? You're an actor. Sure it may not be your main profession and you may not belong to a trade group, but the fact still stands.

First off, this is actually really important for a number of reasons. Astroturfing (such as the Walmart couple that were actually paid to do their blog) is misleading, at best, and can run a company afoul of truth in advertising laws, depending on the situation.

And quite a lot of us do care whether the statements made were made by generic consumers happy with the product as opposed to statements crafted by their marketing department to make people think that generic customers are happy with the product.

Second, appearing on TV does not automatically confer "actor" status on the person. It being a commercial is really irrelevant. How is it acting when you're just stating a fact without embellishment? To be honest, that's kind of insulting to actual actors.

^-.-^

[TheHuckster]

And quite a lot of us do care whether the statements made were made by generic consumers happy with the product as opposed to statements crafted by their marketing department to make people think that generic customers are happy with the product.

The problem I, personally, have are the commercials that show something that's so obviously rehearsed. Even if the customers actually wrote those words by themselves, they were almost definitely paid, and they surely did a few takes and coached them how to smile the best way and get the right tone. That, to me, is acting, and it gives me a sense of wondering just how sincere the customer, true or not, really is.

I'd be interested in what really goes behind these testimonies from the customers. Did the company go by positive letters written by the customers and then reach out to include them in a commercial? Or did they just ask a few random customers what they thought of their store for a commercial and get them to answer "Sure, you'll pay for my airfare and accommodations in your LA studios, right?"

[HYHYBT]

The problem I, personally, have are the commercials that show something that's so obviously rehearsed. Even if the customers actually wrote those words by themselves, they were almost definitely paid, and they surely did a few takes and coached them how to smile the best way and get the right tone.

Which is totally different than the more usual approach where the company writes a script and hires someone regardless of how that person actually feels about the product to perform.

All right. You don't like the way the notice is worded. Keeping in mind that the difference is significant to many people, and that anything said to point out the difference must be very concise, how would you rather they put it?

[SongsOfDragons]

I find it weird they actually have to tell you in the first place. If I'm seeing an advert for Sainsbury's or whatnot, shouldn't I be expected to believe that these people buying stuff on the TV are customers anyway?

The only ads I know of that announce "YES!! Sam Bloggs of Cromarty IS A REAL CUSTOMER!! " seem...incongruous to me, and almost always the ad in question is inherantly American in style and accent.

(Disclaimer: Is British)

[Skunkle]

Trust me, SongsOfDragons, it has to be stated BECAUSE so many people expect that everything you hear on media can be reasonably expected to be fake, or at least rehearsed or embellished. It's kind of in the public consciousness here (though not necessarily always true, or always untrue - this simply tends to be the perception and I don't doubt that it's OFTEN true) that companies will say/do just about anything in their ads if they think the viewer will believe it and buy product. That is, it's common "knowledge" that companies can be trusted to be untrustworthy.

When I see this notice, though, I still assume that, at best, the real customer has been coached, and at worst, it's a real customer describing a real experience as seen through rose-colored glasses.