The Voice of...

Tuesday

PH Media Group provide music on hold and on hold marketing. Happily, Im now working with them to provide regular voice overs for their huge portfolio of corporate clients! If you'd like to find out more about PH Media, just click here.

Vicky Watt is a leading Scottish, female voice over artist available daily from her professional studio by the sea. She'll also happily travel to your chosen studio in the city for face-to-face voice sessions. For more information, please go to her main page at www.vickywatt.co.uk. She is also featured at www.voiceovers.co.uk. You can view ethical policy via my main website.

...Courage.

...Christmas!

So here it is.....

....my first Christmas ad of the year! The sun is still shining and summer lingers on...but some of us are already feeling the first gust of winter's chill and making plans to add some Christmas cheer.

Thanks to Radio Clyde for giving me my first festive radio commerical of 2012 - promoting Christmas parties at the Crowne Plaza Hotel.

You, Me and The Sea...

Image via Pinterest

"With every drop of water you drink, with every breath you take, you are connected to the sea - no matter where on earth you live. The ocean provides home for about 97% of life in the world, maybe in the universe. No water, no life. No blue, no green. Yet we have this idea we humans, that the Earth, all of it; the oceans, the skies, are so vast, so resilient, that it doesn't matter what we do to it. That may have been true 10,000 years ago and maybe even a 1000 years ago. In the last 100, especially the last 50 years, we have drawn down the assets, the air the water, the wildlife, that make our lives possible."

"I wish you would use all means at your disposal — films! expeditions! the web! more! — to ignite public support for a global network of marine protected areas, hope spots large enough to save and restore the ocean, the blue heart of the planet."

- Sylvia Earle, Oceanographer

Find out more via Mission Blue - The Sylvia Earle Alliance

Friday

...a first lady.

...drawing the ethical line...

Have you seen this clever campaign by Greenpeace? It really makes an impact. Exactly what brilliant advertising is all about. I especially love it when fantastic campaigns are created for a positive purpose.

A few years ago, I created an ethical philosophy to guide my work as a voice over artist. We don't all agree on what's a big ethical issue but wherever possible, I feel we have a responsibility to avoid promoting products, services and brands which conflict with our individual principles concerning human and environmental rights.

For example, we all use - and in many ways need fossil fuels right now. Yet, while some of us have benefited from oil, it's not an industry I want to actively promote. The examples of corporate complicity by some of the industry's major players in oppressive regimes, human rights abuse and destruction of our environment suggests there's a moral issue with our dependence on this resource. Instead, I feel its more positive to voice campaigns which celebrate progressive, sustainable renewable energy.

Sometimes though, there are grey areas and its easy to feel uncertain about where to draw the ethical line. In these cases, we can always try to redress the balance by donating something back to charities which promote values we believe in. These are a few of my current favourites...

R.A.V.E.N - working to highlight the plight of native people in Canada, whose lives are being torn apart by the Tar Sands project, the dirtiest form of fossil fuels on the planet. This video produced by The Cooperative (love those guys!) provides further insight.

Whale & Dolphin Conservation Society - living by the sea, these incredible and fragile creatures are perhaps closest to my heart. Our ongoing addiction to fossil fuels is wreaking havoc with their natural environment and this organisation is "the world voice for the protection of these animals".

Greenpeace - because impressive advertising campaigns like the one shown above can only be created with our help!

Even when businesses have an ethical policy in place, it's still an ongoing challenge to find the right balance. It's especially tough to stick to our principles when individual efforts may feel like a drop in the ocean...

On the other hand, it's really inspiring to see even some of the biggest ad agencies working on more ethical campaigns these days. It's also amazing to hear from producers and agencies who respect and support my ethical philosophy.

Hopefully, as more and more of us focus our talents in this way - voice overs, copywriting, design and so on - we'll create positive change. After all, even a drop in the ocean has a ripple effect...

Find out more about my Ethical Philosophy.

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