Are Geico's Commercials Getting A Bit Surreal?

[Quasimodem]

I used "surreal" up there, because I think someone on Mad Ave. is on something chemical.

The latest one has a "taste test" of some kind of red juice which is purportedly Geico insurance. Taster tastes it and likes it, is then offered sample "Y" and almost chokes and spits it out.

Okay, I get it: The spot is a takeoff on supermarket samples, but come on! It's insurance fer Chrissakes! If it's something that tastes that awful, I think I'd be worried about a lawsuit.

I've come to like "Flo" (Progressive) a little better (although I don't think I'd wanna kiss her with those too red lips of hers), and her spots are at least a little more entertaining, if a little tedious.

But the Geico one? Would it make me wanna buy their insurance? What do you think?

Thanks

Q

[well he's back]

Haven't they always been pretty surreal, as well as playing with ad conventions?

[cochrane]

Yeah, the cavemen have always seemed surreal to me. Not to mention that whole talking gecko bit.

[Quasimodem]

Okay, you guys! I give. You're right. I miss the cavemen though! Didn't they have a tv show that was on for about 10 minutes?

And, while we're talking insurance commercials. That Allstate guy with his car up a pole and in the middle of what he calls his "house" (looks more like a storefront to me). How the hell do you run a car up a pole??? The tires are on the frickin side! And is that a pager he's wearing on his belt???

Okay, I'm done bitchin' about commercials for today!

Q

[Quasimodem]

Just a thought: would 4 wheel drive propel a car up a pole?

Q

[Kimballkid]

Originally Posted by Quasimodem

Okay, you guys! I give. You're right. I miss the cavemen though! Didn't they have a tv show that was on for about 10 minutes?

And, while we're talking insurance commercials. That Allstate guy with his car up a pole and in the middle of what he calls his "house" (looks more like a storefront to me). How the hell do you run a car up a pole??? The tires are on the frickin side! And is that a pager he's wearing on his belt???

Okay, I'm done bitchin' about commercials for today!

Q

That's for State Farm.

[Quasimodem]

Yep. I stand corrected, thank you, Kimballkid. Not one of my better days, sorry.

Q

[Infovore]

Maybe so, but I just love the "squirrel jail" one. It makes me giggle every time.

"Justice!"

[Sister Vigilante]

We just had a little Journey Moment there, didn't we?

[etv78]

The taste test on is bizarre! But the one where the baby shows his "shocked" face makes me LOL every time!

[Quasimodem]

Yup. Promote guys' cheating on their Significant Others. Anyway you want it.

Sorry! I said I was done, didn't I?

Bad day, buds. Glad you're here, though.

Q

[Acsenray]

Originally Posted by Quasimodem

Okay, you guys! I give. You're right. I miss the cavemen though! Didn't they have a tv show that was on for about 10 minutes?

Yeah, they did, on ABC. It was actually really good. But it got a lot of bad publicity, just for being a sitcom based on a commercial. It was suspended after six episodes and then the writers' site was the final nail in the coffin. They didn't even broadcast all the episodes that had been made. By Superbowl time, the cavemen in the commercial were making fun of the sitcom.

[Quasimodem]

Originally Posted by etv78

The taste test on is bizarre! But the one where the baby shows his "shocked" face makes me LOL every time!

Me too! Don't know how they do that, but D and I love those things every time they come up!

Quasi

[obfusciatrist]

Need I mention three hamsters rowing to generate power for a laptop, while a little hamster coxswain shouts "row!"

"And such an easy word, too."

[etv78]

Originally Posted by Quasimodem

Me too! Don't know how they do that, but D and I love those things every time they come up!

Quasi

JUST realized I'm thinking of the E-Trade baby!

[Sailboat]

Originally Posted by obfusciatrist

Need I mention three hamsters rowing to generate power for a laptop, while a little hamster coxswain shouts "row!"

"And such an easy word, too."

Guinea pigs, actually.

Funniest part to me is, why have a water tank and row at all? A wheel would generate power (and probably more efficiently). It's such a harebrained scheme that his focusing on the difficulty he had training the guinea pigs is all the more hilarious.

[John DiFool]

I've been taking a big break from TV lately, but with the NHL playoffs about to start up I will be subjected to Geico's inanity on a nightly basis. I hope I can come out of it with my sanity intact...

[Sister Vigilante]

Originally Posted by Quasimodem

Yup. Promote guys' cheating on their Significant Others. Anyway you want it.

Sorry! I said I was done, didn't I?

Bad day, buds. Glad you're here, though.

Q

I think you sort of missed the point of that one. Personally, I saw it as kind of a gay joke (because it's guys riffing on Journey), until he says "place was filled with hot chicks" which indicates the guy isn't gay. And the fact that his now (not then) wife looks at him funny and he hangs up, means he's not cheating.

And to me it's funnier than the one where the guy's talking on the phone to some guy at 3:00 a.m. and his wife catches him. Not because I think he's cheating, just the he felt he had to make that phone call at 3:00 a.m. to some poor guy working nights and probably doesn't need this crap from some jealous wife.

"She sounds horrible!"

"Well, she's a dude."

Really?

[obfusciatrist]

Originally Posted by Sailboat

Guinea pigs, actually.

Funniest part to me is, why have a water tank and row at all? A wheel would generate power (and probably more efficiently). It's such a harebrained scheme that his focusing on the difficulty he had training the guinea pigs is all the more hilarious.

It is complaining about how long it took to train the coxswain since it is such an easy word to say that seals it for me.

[Bryan Ekers]

Originally Posted by Kimballkid

That's for State Farm.

They have another ad where that guy has somehow managed to drive his car through a corner of a building, leaving it stuck there like a bone through a tribesman's nose. Oddly, his headlights still look intact.

[Shakes]

I like the one with the Chicago accent.

[Infovore]

Originally Posted by Infovore

Maybe so, but I just love the "squirrel jail" one. It makes me giggle every time.

"Justice!"

I just realized this one is for Progressive. D'oh!

[Son of a Rich]

Originally Posted by Quasimodem

Okay, you guys! I give. You're right. I miss the cavemen though! Didn't they have a tv show that was on for about 10 minutes?

And, while we're talking insurance commercials. That Allstate guy with his car up a pole and in the middle of what he calls his "house" (looks more like a storefront to me). How the hell do you run a car up a pole???

I actually saw the aftermath of a car-up-pole incident. The driver had apparently ran up the only pole around with a heavy enough support wire to hold up the car. The pole was on the west side and he was going north, so he had to have crossed over. Any other pole and he probably would have been killed.

[ZipperJJ]

This thread made me wonder which company has the most popular commercials, so I made a poll.

[Quasimodem]

You know that one where the guy rear ends the older man and the guy says "tell me you have good insurance"? Is that younger guy Jay of Jay and Silent Bob? (Allstate).

Thanks

Q

[Quasimodem]

I voted for Aflac, and my favorite of theirs is where the pigeon says "Pay the doctors, boyyyyy!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHvLP6xCiAA "major medical"!

Q

[kenobi 65]

Originally Posted by Quasimodem

But the Geico one? Would it make me wanna buy their insurance? What do you think?

I formerly worked in advertising, and specifically in auto insurance ads (though not for Geico).

They aren't trying to get you to buy auto insurance directly with that ad (or, frankly, with most of their ads). They're trying to get you to remember their brand name, in what they hope is a clever fashion, and trying to hammer home what their brand is about (Caveman ads = it's easy to do, rhetorical question ads from last year = you save a lot of money, etc.). Thus, when you *do* decide to shop for auto insurance, you'll think of Geico, and remember that getting a quote from them is easy, and you can save money.

Also: Geico is infamous for throwing a lot of different kinds of ads out there. Some work, and they keep getting run (or new ads in the same series get made), and the ones that don't get axed.

[Quasimodem]

KFC: "Maybe it's just the cake talking, but let's celebrate!" (approximate quote)

Okay, I'll be the first to admit that I probably look too deeply into the phraseology/acting of some of these commercials, but I like to pick them apart.

This one is similar to the phrase we use to explain that too much booze is causing us to say something we ordinarily wouldn't:

All three of the references the kid uses is reminiscent of how someone might speak or act if he's under the influence. (in my opinion, of course)

1. Mother is referred to by her first name (boldness influenced by booze)

2. Mistakenly calling the Washington monument the Eiffel Tower (iffy, this one)

3. Sleeping till 11:15 (something one might do if he's overdone the drinking)

And of course, "the cake talking"

It's subtle, but IMO, it's there.

And I know: "Quasi again. Get with the times, dude" , right?

Q