Well, I'm not a huge TV watcher but in general I'd have to say no. Not that I've noticed anyway. I guess if there was a predominance of ads with unusual accents, I would probably notice???
There are of course some ads which feature famous people, the accents might be American, Italian, English etc to enhance the product. Only last night I saw a Nescafe ad which has George Clooney talking. Can't think of any others though.
I wonder if in America, its because its like England in that dependant on different localities, accents are harder to understand, In England, the way people speak in London is SO different to for example, Wales or Cornwall or Yorkshire. I remember asking a couple of girls for directions in Yorkshire and we simply could not understand what they were telling us. Same in America I'm sure. Can a person from Oregon grasp every word someone from Louisiana might say??
Using a "neutral" accent in a TV ad might be the reason so that its clearly understood everywhere. I don't know???
Ian
