Posted by MikeT23 on 7/10/2011 11:26:00 AM (view original):
My theory evolves around the fact that we want the person in charge to sound calm and controlled. High pitch tends to sound excited and panicked. Two people can say the same thing with the same passion but the deeper voice will say "I'm in charge" while the other says "HELP ME!! THIS IS CRAZY STUFF!!!"
There's a school of thought in the oil industry that's led us to use more female voice talent in voicing commercials, PSAs and other stuff, particularly related to community relations and the enivornment. It's the whole idea of a woman's voice being more nurturing and soothing.
When we test commercials with female narration, they score high. When we screen commercials featuring females on screen, they don't test quite as strongly with focus groups. It's quite odd and the research suggests, at least for the oil industry, is women need to be heard rather than seen.