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Zooey Deschanel's Siri Ad: How Accurate Is This IPhone Commercial?

Posted: 04/17/2012 2:54 pm

Cheery smile-minister Zooey Deschanel has worn a lot of hats (uh, literally) in her brief public career: television and movie actress, indie songstress, HelloGiggles.com co-creator. (Yes, you read that correctly: Zooey Deschanel helped launch a site called HelloGiggles.com. That's your recommended sugar intake for the day).

Now, Ms. Zooey has found a new role for her sprightly self: Siri's Bestest Pal.

The actress can be seen in a current iPhone 4S advertisement for AT&T, which apparently debuted Monday night on ESPN and which has already been viewed over 100,000 times on YouTube in less than 24 hours.

The ad features Deschanel interacting with Siri on a rainy day, doing the things you'd expect her to do while home alone -- ordering in tomato soup, reminding herself to clean up (tomorrow!), and dancing by herself to some old-time rock and roll. Quirky!

As we have with past Siri ads, we decided to put this one to the test: Can the iPhone actually respond to all the prompts that AT&T's commercial says it can? Apple is currently being sued (actually, DOUBLE-sued) for misleading in its Siri ads, and we found in our tests on the Siri "Rock God" commercial that the sassy voice assistant had a whole bunch of trouble in real-life trials.

Our "Rock God" tests ended in total embarrassment for Siri; does Apple's Assistant fare any better at calling me Zooey?

As a reminder, the testing process remains the same:
- We only do one take of each prompt, to see if Siri can get it right the first time. What good is a voice assistant you have to prompt over and over again?
- Every prompt from the commercial is repeated word for word, here at the HuffPost office, no matter how stupid it makes me sound.
- Since the commercial takes place indoors, and Zooey Deschanel presumably has Internet in her home, we did the test over HuffPost's WiFi network.
- As always, I would like to apologize ahead of time, for my terrible, terrible Zooey Deschanel impression, which consists of me smiling a lot and trying to show as little chest hair as possible.

And now, here's our Zooey vs. Reality advertisement test. Watch below to see how Siri performed (SPOILER: Much better than last time):

 

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Cheery smile-minister Zooey Deschanel has worn a lot of hats (uh, literally) in her brief public career: television and movie actress, indie songstress, HelloGiggles.com co-creator. (Yes, you read tha...
Cheery smile-minister Zooey Deschanel has worn a lot of hats (uh, literally) in her brief public career: television and movie actress, indie songstress, HelloGiggles.com co-creator. (Yes, you read tha...
 
 
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12:26 PM on 05/22/2012
I don't know about accurate, but it is overplayed.
10:15 PM on 05/13/2012
Sadly, the commercial makes her seem dim-witted. She's looking out a window, and asks "Is that rain?" Really?
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BookKeepersSon
Don't take me alive
01:44 PM on 04/20/2012
On the first commercial that featured Siri, a young girl says, "I'm locked out of the house." I FULLY expected Siri to reply, "I'm sorry, I cannot let you back in." That would have been a classic!! They blew it.
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Feanor
I want my jewels back.
10:14 PM on 04/19/2012
She is so freakin' cute it is almost unbearable.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
jabailo
(Participant) Texeme.Construct()
04:30 AM on 04/20/2012
Yes, but apparently that doesn't matter to Siri.
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BookKeepersSon
Don't take me alive
01:46 PM on 04/20/2012
I absolutely agree. Cutest thing I ever did see.

Surprisingly,,, not sexy - AT ALL.
ThinkGlobal
Military Spending Killing America
05:35 PM on 04/19/2012
commercials always bad with A list actors...
12:40 PM on 04/19/2012
Oh, Zooey! She stares out the window at the rain, while asking the damn phone. "Is that rain?" I'm waiting for the 'Sarcastic Siri' app which would respond, "Seriously? Unless you're legally blind, that has to be the stupidest question I have ever heard!"
11:50 AM on 04/19/2012
Oh Zooey! Looking out the window, at the rain, and asking the damn phone, "Is that rain?" I'm waiting for the 'Sarcastic Siri' app, which would have answered: "Unless you are legally blind, that has to be the stupidest question that I have ever been asked!"
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MichaelFroemel
Star Trek fan from Germany
09:48 AM on 04/19/2012
Informative test...
proudnative
I'm a human being.
10:54 PM on 04/18/2012
Geez, the ad is for Sprint. Get it right.
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zooperman
10:52 PM on 04/18/2012
Really? I have to carry my phone all around the house? Even in my jambes? And talk to it? And ask irt to play tinny-sounding music? Sorry, won't do that.
10:08 PM on 04/18/2012
I don't care about Siri. I don't want it. I want buttons. Dedicated buttons with simple commands. I don't want to talk to my phone out loud in an elevator when I need to look something up or make an appointment. Siri is a ridiculous gimmick with little to no payoff.
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Feanor
I want my jewels back.
10:15 PM on 04/19/2012
pretty obvious you've never owned an iphone.
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jflorish
06:05 PM on 04/18/2012
In a few years, Siri will be one of the greatest mobile inventions ever. This is just the start.
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pthompson13
05:08 PM on 04/19/2012
If she does my dishes and shaves my legs for me, then I will whole heartily agree with you. But I suppose if I going to wish, I should wish a little bigger.
03:22 AM on 05/12/2012
Just snap the glass on the phone and you'll have a sharp razor to shave with. :P
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BookKeepersSon
Don't take me alive
01:49 PM on 04/20/2012
Afar as going mobile goes,,, I think the automobile has that wrapped up until they invent a Star Trek type transporter.
05:52 PM on 04/18/2012
Hey, that hunk of industrial engineering didn't do too badly! I though have no interest in talking to my electronic devices about such silly things. ai'm waiting for a device like Rosie on the The Jetson's cartoon. Who know that the Jetson's was actually a preview of the upcoming world? Or was it?
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becky bradshaw
"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth
05:48 PM on 04/18/2012
Ms. Deschanel will one day sorely regret having allowed her name to be associated with Apple. She will one day be known almost exclusively for this act, like Marlene Dietrich.
11:31 AM on 04/19/2012
Marlene Dietrich was way ahead of her time if she was shilling for Apple! LOL!
11:58 AM on 04/19/2012
She'll be sweetly remembered as the adorable girl trying to order soup in the rain while dancing to classic rock... Not for the failed app that was featured in the commercial. And the die-hard Apple fans really won't care because they'll keep buying it up from now until Apple gets it right. Its silly of you to think this could damage her career... just silly. LOL
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plasmaorb
The GOP cant afford Common Sense
04:37 PM on 04/18/2012
Siri replied back to her and asked.. is that really your voice or are you just winding me up? I thought it was Ray Ramano doing a Kermit the Frog imitation