Babyish female voice overs!

[EponasWildDaughter]

Is it me or is there a growing trend for the female voice overs used on ad's for TV and radio these days to sound about bloody 6 years old?

Fine for the stuff which is child oriented in some way i suppose, like the ads for theme parks for eg., and at a stretch the reminders for filling in your family tax credits form, but we have these silly childish female voices for anything and everything now it seems. Why?

Coming home in the car this morning there was an ad on the radio for a car dealership and the female voice over was so bloody babyish it was laughable and frankly ridiculous. I hear them all the time and i find it really irritating. Who is this aimed at? We don't routinely have male voice overs sounding like 5 year old little boys ... AIBU?

Not just female ones, the Haribo ad with adults in a meeting makes me turn the TV off.

Adults talking wih baby voices make me furious. I hate it when it's obviously 'fake ' like that Haribo ad, and I hate it when it's more on the vein of Ellie Goulding singing. Use your grown - up voice, Ellie!

And you, Michael Jackson.

I hear this quite often too OP both on radio and TV. I guess it's more on stations that want to appeal to the "youf". One of my particular pet hates when I hear presenters reading the news/travel or whatever in the style of a music chart show!

Are we talking about deliberately putting a voice on for a particular role/part or a female who talks like that all the time?

Because if it's the latter:- I remember hearing a psychologist talking about it on TV years ago.
She said it was sometimes an unconscious desire (or ploy?) to stay "daddy's little girl" so that everyone around would run about doing things for the woman in question.
In other words having a higher pitched girlish voice would get things done for you.

I am merely repeating what this psychologist said - what do others think?

I'm thinking primarily about these very childlike, sickly sweet female voices being chosen to voice ads with no link to anything to do with kids. Is this indicative of something?

Is it meant to sound all appealing? Or even alluring somehow?

I find it frustrating that male voices are mostly properly mature and assertive sounding, or just young and casual, but never this daft 'pwotect me, i'm so young and vulnerable and only 5 years old''. It's women sounding pathetic to me and it pisses me off.

But assuming the male's voice has broken, he's going to struggle to sound 5yo.

I don't know what ads you are talking about, but in rl adult ladies that sound twee make me since.

Wince not since.... Does anyone like autocorrect really?

Yes I agree about the ads.
I also hate adult women who speak in high girlish voices. Thought I'd met the worst offender in a temp job a few years back but she was beaten last week by a woman in superdrug who was at least an octave higher. I just grabbed my change and ran before the windows shattered...

Oh God yea, , YANBU

I too despise the haribo one ,, stupid.

I also loathe horrible baby-ish children's voiceovers, like this one:

I have to leave the room. They make me feel all stabby.

Vertbaudet and Petit Filou are two that have me wanting to throw things at the TV.

The Haribo one is OK because it is actually children's voices with the adults lip synching.

Some women do have naturally very high pitched voices though and it seems unfair that society takes a deep male voice more seriously. I do have a friend who puts on a baby voice a lot and that annoys me so much. She's 28 now and could honestly pass for 10 or younger if you just heard her speak in that voice.

I don't mind the haribo one at all - it's a joke!
However, YANBU. There is definitely a trend for women talking and even standing like a little girl.
Look at an award ceremony, with a bunch of famous women. When asked to pose for a picture, lots of of them stand with their knees turned in, with a vacant expression on their faces.

Argh! I know just what you mean. Woman on Child's Farm toiletries advert: I'm looking at you.

YES to the standing like a child! WFT is that all about?!

I get that some women have high voices. I have quite a high soft voice myself. But it's not just the pitch of these voices in the media, it's the 'little princess' quality about it. Literally child like. So hard to put in words. I can almost picture them doing the script with one finger in the corner of their mouth.

No fault of the voice over artist. They're responding to the clients brief; the new trend. I bet half the time it's not even their natural speaking voice!

Wish i could find one to link to. That particular one this morning which has set me off was on Heart Northants. An insurance co. ad i think. But it's everywhere.

I have a high, girlish voice and hate it. I've tried everything to lower it as I am in a professional role where I'm already up against my age as an obstacle (I'm 28) and sounding like a child really doesn't help.
So Yabu. Some people can't help it.

Completely agree. It isn't people whose natural voices have a high register, it's the way they speak. In a slow, babyish way as if they're slightly simple. So...you know...banks and all that...we women just want a simple, easy, friendly bank who'll give us free chocolate and stuff don't we?! There are loads of them and it makes me mad.

I agree re Child's Farm woman doing a babyish voice. It sounds a bit put on

Jane Horrocks has a voice which makes me want to get stabby. Cute babyish voice completely put on. Revolting. I also hate women who just refuse to grow up and play on their petite build . Cheryl Cole is heading that way too.

YANBU! My DD is only ten but she's noticed how prevalent this is on crappy channels like Nickelodeon and wonders constantly why "all the actresses talk like babies."

These are teenage girls...most are high pitched to a painful degree...fake sounding. We know loads of teenagers nd not one speaks like that!

Caroline Aherne ruins Gogglebox for me with her ridiclously twee, over the top baby voice.

zombie thread

It's the patriarchy. Nothing but a tyrannical and contrived method of keeping women down, especially BAME women which tend to have lower voices.

"It's women sounding pathetic to me and it pisses me off."

Internalised misogyny but that isn't your fault. Toxic masculinity has made you feel this way.