LIVE ISSUE/ACTORS IN ADS.(Brief Article)

Does it matter if the same actor appears in different ads?

You don't think you know the actor Henry Miller, but you're almost certainly wrong. If you've a keen eye for ads, then you're probably very familiar with Miller's work. In fact, for the past few weeks it's been hard to avoid him.

Recently, Miller has graced our screens in three different campaigns. He's the bagel-orderer in Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO's Yellow Pages spot, the Ibiza-loving lad who feigns the loss of his passport in J. Walter Thompson's Smirnoff Ice campaign, and he is also in St Luke's COI Communications literacy gremlins work. So what is it about his face that endears him to so many agencies?

Jeanette Scott, the agent at Crouch Associates, who represents Miller, says: "There's a slight charming vulnerability about Henry, and people like that. He always looks like he could have the same failings as the rest of us."

He also possesses a crucial skill among actors -- the ability to get on with everyone. "Whenever he goes to the castings he charms them," Scott says. "They want people to buy their product, and people trust him."

Adrian Harrison, the managing director of RSA Films, explains that many actors are chosen for this very reason: "The successful ones are usually very good in casting performances -- they know how to present themselves to the director better than anyone else."

Amanda Tabak, a casting director at Candid Casting, believes some actors may not be the best in the business, but that doesn't matter. "The ones who are repeatedly used in ads are consumer friendly -- they have a ...