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Why do so many stars voice TV ads?

Thu., Jun. 14, 2007 4:49 PM PDT by Leslie Gornstein

Is it my imagination, or are more stars doing voice-overs for commercials? It seems like every time I see an ad, I recognize the dulcet tones doing the speaking. I thought it was beneath big stars to do commercials. What gives?
—Hearing Impaired, New York

The B!tch Replies: In other words, is that Antonio Banderas behind that overheated cartoon bee with the fajita-pan eyes and the rocket-tile teeth? Yes.

(By the way, open letter to that Nasonex bee: You’re never gonna seduce the lady bees with those flaccid antennae. You know what they say about a bee with droopy feelers, don't you?)

Even though that fact is widely known among the hipsters in the pharmaceutical industry, the Nasonex people, technically, will neither confirm nor deny. That’s part of Banderas’ deal, see. Pay him, and forever protect his secret identity as abeja del amor.

In fact that’s why an increasing number of celebrities seem to be signing on to voice commercials for beer (George Clooney), nasal enhancers, Internet services (Julia Roberts), pizza (Queen Latifah), hardware (Gene Hackman), phone minutes (Kiefer Sutherland) and Disney vacations (Kelsey Grammer). Because in most instances, they can earn millions in as little as a few minutes, without a corporate client trumpeting their involvement.

“I’m not gonna lie, but I’m not supposed to say,” hemmed Matt Delzell, senior client manager for Davie Brown Talent, which may or may not have hooked up client Nasonex with abeja del amor.

What is true about celebs doing voices is there are certainly more of them, shilling more products, than there were even just a few years ago, when I first wrote about Julia Roberts pimping AOL. Why? Like I said: money for nearly nothing.

“An on-camera commercial job can involve a 10- to 12-hour shoot, but a voice-over is different,” Delzell explains to this B!tch. “You can go into whatever studio you want and knock it out in two or three hours.”

Why are we being blessed with these expensive voices now versus 10 years ago? We may owe our thanks to Catherine Zeta-Jones, who is widely credited with opening new income venues for A-listers by agreeing to shill for T-Mobile in 2002.

What’s next? Johnny Depp for Elizabeth Arden eyeliner? Hey, it’s an idea.