I hear it every single morning and it drives me up the wall...
If you don't live in Nashville, you're spared the pain of this one, but you still have your own wherever you live...
There is a commercial on the radio for an outlet called Rich Heat & Air. Just to illustrate how classy this joint is, I googled their company name to link to their website...and they don't have one.
Anyway, back to Rich Heat & Air, a company that has apparently spent all of their big advertising bucks on the precious radio slots and cannot afford to have either good actors who know who to read copy or an Internet presence.
The commercial goes a little like this. Paraphrased, but you'll get the substance...both people have painful, painful, not-for-radio Southern drawls...not the good kind...more like the kind you would find around Tuscaloosa...
Lady: "Well...they came to fix the air conditionin' and it ain't good."
Man: "How bad is it?"
Lady: "$700"
Man: "Seven hunnuhd dollas? What's it made of? Gold" (Note: apparently there is no "dre" in "hundred"...and you can get a solid gold air conditioner for $700.)
Lady: "I don't know, but it's getting hotter by the minute." (Aside from her answering the question honestly...just your average radio commercial...then it takes a turn...)
Man: "I don't care how hot it is. I'm not paying seven hunnuhd dollas."
Lady: "I heard on the radio that Rich Heat & Air will give you a second o-pin-yun free." (Opinion is very long and drawn out...that staccato reading by a person very clearly having trouble reading the copy out loud.)
Man: "Now you're cooking with butane." (Who says that?)
Lady: "I-heard-it-on-the-ra-di-o. A-sec-ond-o-pin-yuhn-free. All-you-have-to-do-is-ask." (This one is just painful. First off, you've already told us you heard it on the radio. Why does this need to be repeated? The key to advertising is repetition...and generally the first point is the only point that is taken away from an ad...which is why a lot of bad ads load you down with way too many selling points. The main selling point in this ad is that it's something heard on the radio...which is absolutely pointless to be emphasized since the COMMERCIAL IS ALREADY ON THE RADIO. The second problem is with the woman's clear inability to read copy. You would think they would at least give her a couple of run throughs so that she didn't sound like the 2nd grader trying to sound out the words in Charlotte's Web.)
Man: "I'm gonna call Rich Heat & Air right now!" (A logical next step...I wouldn't want to keep talking to that woman either.)
Lady: "You better get me some air!" (This is the worst part of the whole ad. She says it so gratingly, so hickishly and so annoyingly...but more to the point, it doesn't follow the plot of the rest of the ad. All he is doing is calling for a second opinion. If it still costs $700, you're not getting air. It's really hard for a 30 second commercial to have a major plot hole...but this one does...he never said he was getting air...as far as I know, all Rich Heat & Air is doing is coming out to your house, looking at your busted AC and telling you how much they would charge to fix it.)
The end result of this commercial? It leaves me thinking that if I ever had an AC problem, I would never call this place based on their advertising. The company doesn't have a web presence in 2009...when you can get a domain for like $5 on GoDaddy.com...and they apparently don't have the quality control to even hire actors with proper diction...
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