Audible’s advertising during television coverage of the 89th Academy Awards, “Audible Voices”, features actors reading quotes from novels exploring social responsibility and times of great challenge. The Audible Voices campaign is presented as a tribute to the power of great actors whose voices bring audiobooks to life. The choice of timeless and timely excerpts is a reminder to the American people and their government that policy choices can make or break a nation’s character. TV commercials aired before, during and after the Oscars featured Zachary Quinto reading from George Orwell’s 1984, Claire Danes reading Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables, Alan Cumming reading from JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and Mike Colter reading Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Online commercials round out the campaign, with Jim Dale reading from JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, James Chen reading from Sun Zu’s The Art of War, Sanjiv Jhaveri reading from Yann Martel’s The Life of Pi, Victor Bevine reading from Isaac Asimov’s Pebble in the Sky, Allyson Johnson reading from Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth, Kevin Free reading from Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven, and Lameece Issaq reading from Wuthering Heights.
Zachary Quinto (Spock in Star Trek) reads an excerpt from George Orwell’s 1949 novel “1984”: “If he were allowed contact with foreigners, he would discover that they are creatures similar to himself and that most of what he had been told about them is lies. The sealed world in which he lives would be broken, and the fear, hatred and self-righteousness on which his morale depends, might evaporate.”
Claire Danes reads from Victor Hugo’s 1862 novel “Les Miserables”: “Society is to blame for not providing free public education, and society will answer for the obscurity it produces. If the soul is left in darkness, sins will be committed. The guilty party is not he who has sinned but he who create the darkness in the first place.”
Alan Cumming recounts from “The Fellowship of the Ring” the words of Haldir: “The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places, but still there is much that is fair and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.”
Mike Colter (Luke Cage) recites a passage from “To Kill a Mockingbird” about courage, the words of Atticus. “I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.”
Jim Dale reads from JK Rowling’s 1997 novel Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, the words of Albus Dumbledore: “As much money and life as you could want! The two things most human beings would choose above all. The trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things that are worst for them.”
James Chen reads from Sun Zu’s 5th century BCE military treatise The Art of War: “There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare.”
Sanjiv Jhaveri reads from Yann Martel’s 2001 novel The Life of Pi: “If there’s only one nation in the sky, shouldn’t all passports be valid for it?”
Allyson Johnson reads from Edith Wharton’s 1905 novel The House of Mirth, the words of Selden: “Why do we call all our generous ideas illusions, and the mean ones truths?”
Victor Bevine reads from Isaac Asimov’s 1950 novel Pebble in the Sky: “It was obvious that bigotry was never a one-way operation, that hatred bred hatred!”
Kevin Free reads from Edgar Allan Poe’s 1847 narrative poem The Raven: “Actually, I do have doubts, all the time. Any thinking person does.”
Lameece Issaq reads from Emily Bronte’s 1847 novel Wuthering Heights the words of Catherine: “I’ll be as dirty as I please, and I like to be dirty, and I will be dirty!”
Audible Voices Credits
The Audible Voices campaign was developed in-house at Audible by SVP Global Communications Matthew Thornton and SVP Global Brand Marketing Barbara Thall Ward working with senior creative director Kari Niles.
Filming was shot by documentary film director Morgan Neville via Radical Media.
