# Geico Cavemen = Black Peps? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 27, 2007, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geico-cavemen-black-peps/413317 "2007-07-27T02:08:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2007, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geico-cavemen-black-peps/413317/61 "2007-08-01T20:24:22Z")
[QUOTE=Operation Ripper] Well, obviously, cool ones… [/QUOTE] Snap. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geico-cavemen-black-peps/413317/62 "2007-08-02T12:18:29Z")
[QUOTE=Operation Ripper] Au contraire, [pep.](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pep&page=2) [/QUOTE] Here’s a dictionary reference for you: [Courtesy](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/courtesy). ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geico-cavemen-black-peps/413317/63 "2007-08-02T13:36:06Z")
1. Is black the only minority? and 2. What was so hard about writing “Geico Caveman = Black People?” or even better. “Allegations raised that the Geico Cavemen represent black stereotypes?” I hate shoddy grammar. _grumbles_ ---
**Author:** ![pizzabrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9c0ed/32.png) [@pizzabrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pizzabrat)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geico-cavemen-black-peps/413317/64 "2007-08-02T15:14:30Z")
[QUOTE=Anaamika] 1. Is black the only minority? [/QUOTE] One of the best parts of the whole campaign is that the cavemen (unrealistically) _never_ go there. This is most evident in the psychiatrist spot - in real life, your average moron from the English-speaking world would say something like “would you say ‘so easy a black person could do it’?” to demonstrate the offensiveness of the campaign. Instead the caveman wonders aloud what if it said “so easy a therapist could do it”, making it personal to the psychiatrist - which of course is much more logical than invoking some abstract third-party group. IMHO, **Menocchio** ’s Gypsy/Roma analogy is spot on. That’s clearly the gag - some clumsy ad agency invokes a caricature of some group thought to be long irrelevant but then surprise, they’re not. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geico-cavemen-black-peps/413317/65 "2007-08-02T19:04:55Z")
[QUOTE=Fiver] I’ve never heard Rae Dawn Chong described as “black” before. She’s African-American/Amerindian/Scottish-Irish/Chinese-Canadian. She’s “black” the way a CockaPomaPoo dog is a poodle. [/QUOTE] Is it OK if she considers herself black? ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geico-cavemen-black-peps/413317/66 "2007-08-02T19:27:37Z")
Is it okay if she considers Tiger Woods black? ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geico-cavemen-black-peps/413317/67 "2007-08-02T19:30:10Z")
[QUOTE=Cartooniverse] Is it okay if she considers Tiger Woods black? [/QUOTE] Nope. But surely someone can define themself. ---
**Author:** ![athelas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geico-cavemen-black-peps/413317/68 "2007-08-02T20:45:38Z")
[QUOTE=Anaamika] 1. Is black the only minority? [/QUOTE] I think you can make a version of Godwin’s Law about the probability of black people arising in discussions of racial issues, even when the “race” is extinct. Oh, and what genius runs the Geico advertising department? First the gecko and now the cavemen? These guys are brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geico-cavemen-black-peps/413317/69 "2007-08-02T20:51:54Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] Nope. But surely someone can define themself. [/QUOTE] Some_one_ can define herself or himself. But _them_self? ---
**Author:** ![pizzabrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9c0ed/32.png) [@pizzabrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pizzabrat)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geico-cavemen-black-peps/413317/70 "2007-08-02T21:00:47Z")
[QUOTE=athelas] I think you can make a version of Godwin’s Law about the probability of black people arising in discussions of racial issues, even when the “race” is extinct. [/QUOTE] While you’re at it, make up a corollary about the perverted envy that’ll later be expressed by other minorities for this unwelcome status, and the misguided resentment towards blacks themselves because of it. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geico-cavemen-black-peps/413317/71 "2007-08-02T21:22:28Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] Some_one_ can define herself or himself. But _them_self? [/QUOTE] I was trying to remain gender-neutral. I didn’t know how else to do it. :smack: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geico-cavemen-black-peps/413317.md?page=3)