do virtual tv actors, characterized from real people, get paid...?

Question

i've been noticing more and more "virtual" actors in place of real humans in tv commercials. it looks like a real actor did the piece, but is replaced by a cartoon rendition of him, making faces as he would in real life. are the real actors paid as much as if alive on tv?

why do advertisers believe that we will buy more from a company because it uses "virtual" actors in the commercials?

i have also just noticed one tv commercial that actually DOES have a virtual actor. is it a robot?

what do you think about "virtual" people in general? do you want to buy more from a company that seems not to pay actors for doing their jobs in commercials?

in fact, how is our so-called "leisure society," without people working but just having fun, going to happen when people are not paid for doing work? how will you pay for your leisurly activities? how would you feel if they made clones of you that would just do your work? i.e., they would be slaves, but what happens to YOU?

Answer 1

Okay, I'm no expert on copywrite laws, but I know a little bit about media and the advertising world.

1) Advertising is a business, so any likenesses of existing celebrities probably are cleared by their legal department to ensure that they don't get sued. If they didn't, and the similarity is obvious, they could get sued, because people who do voice overs using fake celebrity voices have been sued. I'm not certain who won in these cases, however, but being sued in general is bad enough. If it is the celebrity doing their animated character's voiceover, they probably got paid the going rate for a celebrity voiceover.

2) Advertisers are always looking for ways to attract the audiences attention in the first place. If the virtual character made you tune into the message, then they have a better chance you will actually listen to their pitch buy the product than if you had ignored it originally.

3) No, animated characters are not robots, they arecomputer generated 3-D renderings.

4) I like virtual people in general. I like new things.

5) I do not base my buying decisions on if I like the commercial or not, but rather if the product or service fills my need. I will favor a product or service I've heard of if the price is close, or if I percieve it to have added value over its competitor, because the fact of advertising indicates they are legitimate (may or may not be true, but that's the psychology)

6) Certain people will always work, because for them that is fun. Tycoons always want more money, even after being comfortable for life. Life without challenges becomes boring. I would gladly have an automated "clone" if I had creative and financial control over its product, and reaped the rewards. My intuition is however, that managing the clone would be nearly as much work as doing all the work myself.

Answer 2

yes they get paid - union rates where i live