Rich Minx

Have you ever been in a commercial? The money can be good but it’s not easy, especially when your acting skills are as abysmal as mine. Really, I’m the William Hung of acting!

I was in a TV commercial last year for yogurt. We were encouraged to reveal our thoughts in a stream-of-consciousness style as we ate the yogurt with the cameras and lights focused on us. But after all the editing (slo-mo yogurt shots, music etc), I only had one line, unscripted: “It’s really creamy.”

Not my proudest moment, and the commercial ran for months and months at peak times. I kept getting text messages from ‘friends’: “It’s really creamy! Hahahaha.”

I always enjoy watching TV commercials in other countries. If the language isn’t English, even better. But why is it that in an era of special FX, ads are still so budget-looking and fugly?

Here in the States, I’ve noticed that most of the ads are either weight-loss related (diet pills, exercise machines etc) or pimping medical products. And it seems to be compulsory to add a rapid voiceover - or worse, a piece-to-camera by the actor - about the potential side effects. “May cause stomach bleeding, mild headaches or death. Order now!”

And then there are the get-rich-quick schemes. There’s been a commercial on recently for some dodgy deal called Crazy Fox, where gleeful members announce: “I made $5000 just yesterday!” There are a handful of ways I can think of to make that kind of money in a day without growing a business, and none of them appeal.

Anyway, I visited the website which consists of a single page where you are expected to sign up for their ‘Success Kit’. I didn’t. Would you? I’ve watched enough commercials to know a scheme like that is really shady.

PS. If you want to star in a commercial, visit StarNow.com which has acting gigs in different countries.

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