When I was told about writing for radio, many moons ago, I was warned; ‘the number of people called George, in radio ads, is disproportionate to the number of people called George in the real world’.
The point was, there are a number of radio advertising cliches, and one of them was to have a funny character called George in your script.
There’s a brand new radio cliche I’ve spotted: the use of this ridiculously over-the-top, unfeasibly happy, talking-through-a-manic-grin-that-can-only-be-chemically-induced voiceover (usually a female VO).
I heard back-to-back radio ads this morning, from M & S, Currys, and Virgin Media, where this irritating, nauseatingly happy voice was in full flow.
Can we all agree to stop using this voiceover from now on?
No-one is that bloody happy, particularly when reeling off a list of product/service benefits, contact details, and Ts and Cs.
For the purposes of illustration, this is how I imagine the smiley voiceover lady looks while recording ads…
