THEY DUBBED WHO OVER WHOM? SHADES OF MILLI VANILLI

Shades of Milli Vanilli
Surely you remember this lip-sync fiasco!

In the 1990's we found out that this German Minority R&B group had been lip syncing their songs, paying a couple of white guys to do the vocals. With the scandal came the realization at not all is what it seems, especially in the music world.

Hello 2023! A scandal revisited as we find out the new "Ad-Gate" scandal, where noted advertising agencies are lip-syncing Caucasian voice actors' voices over blacks appearing on television and social media commercials. Yet, it's true and potentially insulting to the max that they feel they need to eliminate the black voices but keep the black faces.

I spoke with two whistleblowers from one of America's largest ad agencies who felt it was time to open up a new can of worms. It's shocking, but not entirely surprising. Here's what Mr. Gables [name is fictitious but the man is not] he says, "It's been going on for quite some time, even back when we were operating under the name J. Walter T*ompson, a highly respected source for marketing and advertising in general."

I asked Gables for examples and he steered me to a number of the more simply produced [the simpler the better according to him.] television ads aimed at seniors wanting life insurance for burial expense. He pointed out simple 2-voice [only two actors involved] ads featuring black people and showed me with a file and video example [I am not at liberty to air the video for fear of legal repercussions] talking about how Mom had almost died but tells her child from her hospital bed that she has fixed-term insurance that will pay for her burial expenses should she die.

When slowed down and carefully analyzed it can be seen that the voices of different people had indeed been dubbed over those of the actors appearing on screen. Our whistleblower says to me, "When the dubbed voices are analyzed it can be deduced with 93% certainty that these are the voices of Caucasians, sporting excellent mid-west White America accents."

Citing example after example, from life insurance companies to pharmaceutical firms and even auto makers the "slip of the lip" continues. I had to ask why and his answer was saddening yet entirely believable.

He says, "We find that obtaining literate and disciplined black actors for such commercials is more than difficult, it's almost impossible. There's a lack of these folks who have clean, well articulated, and neutral voices without far the less literate 'black-ish' accent and tone. The very few who are verbally literate and articulate tend to have a lack of discipline making it impossible for them to 'hit the mark' on stage and work in a timely fashion. Egos here are unbelievable. This is why we will find our black candidates, already knowing their voices will be dubbed over in production. Viewers don't know the difference, but they don't really need to."

Mr. Gables is one of a couple of whistleblowers who don't know each other, but their stories rhyme, making it impossible not to believe them. These folks opinions garnered from years of work in the business make it absolutely clear that, at least at the present, there exists a huge shortage of blacks who can perform physically and vocally at a level commensurate with their Caucasian and Asian brothers and sisters. So there you have it!

I'm Max, and that's the way I see it!