Colin Firth is partially to blame for an unprecedented rise in demand for elocution lessons, a report published on Thursday claimed.
According to tuition website tutorpages, as the job market becomes increasingly competitive people are so worried that regional accents are holding them back that they are seeking professional help.
While many have sought help to soften their West Midlands accents, there have also been a large number of requests from people in London and the Thames Valley, wanting to water down what voice experts refer to as "Estuary English".
Maggie Hall, a speech and drama teacher in Brighton, said the popularity of The King's Speech, the film starring Firth as King George VI, who sought assistance from a speech therapist to help him overcome his fear of public speaking, had contributed to the increase.
"Personally, I blame The King's Speech, although nobody really wants to speak like the Queen, or her father as played by Colin Firth in the film," she said.
"The people to listen to these days for a really good example of 'received pronunciation' are actors such as Ben Kingsley, Patrick Stewart or Judy Dench."
Henry Fagg, director of thetutorpages, said a "significant change" in British culture, despite the popularity of TV shows like The Only Way is Essex, was making elocution lessons and voice coaching fashionable again.
"You could say it's a return to the days of Professor Higgins and Eliza Doolittle, when many ambitious people were denied opportunities because they spoke with a regional or working-class accent," he said.
"A lot of people who have contacted us do appear to be trying to improve their prospects by learning to present themselves better and to speak more clearly," he added.
The report, Elocution in the new Britain: trends in private tuition, found that most demands for speech lessons came from parents who wanted to change the way their children spoke, including one parent who complained her son had developed an "irritating Scouse accent".
Another mother complained: "My daughter has recently changed from private school to state school and I've noticed a huge change in her speech, which is HORRIFYING!"