Tuesday, December 16, 2008

I'm gonna gouge my eyeballs out.

I promise I'm not going to rant about TV commercials again. It doesn't do any good and just raises my blood pressure. So, no more long diatribes about the rancid evil and downfall of humanity that is TV commercials. Except one. I don't get it. I just really don't understand how it is that Geico advertising executives could still possibly have their lives, much less their jobs.

Let's see...first it was the cavemen. You would have to be on crack to think those guys were anything but irritating and then, to my horror, they made the commercial into a sitcom. Luckily for the universe, that was short-lived.

Then the brain-dead wasters of oxygen came up with the gecko that makes me want to stomp on anything resembling a lizard and they keep on using it! In fact they still use the cavemen, the lizard and those stupid celebrity endorcements from old what's-her-name Collins and even Little Richard. Little Richard?! Why would I buy insurance from people like that?

So, when I saw that they had a new commercial out starring a stack of money with eyeballs, I thought that was the ultimate insult to my limited intelligence but then...but then...wait for it, wait for it...but then...I found this article online about what a genius the marketing manager is that came up with all that drivel! I can't stand it anymore! I went from muting the TV when the commercials came on to turning the channel and now I have no choice but to gouge out my eyeballs so I don't ever have to see anything about Geico ever again.

4 comments:

an Donalbane said...

The statement in the article sheds some light: "We were sharing a cold beverage."

I agree their marketing guy is an idiot, though not for the same reasons as you cite. The gecko series is innocuous enough, and possibly effective, because it ties in with, and helps with recall of, the company's name.

The celebrity 'translation' series were OK by me, and some of them were cute.

The caveman spots, though, took a fairly weak concept and milked it way past any effectiveness it might have had.

Now, the stack of money with eyeballs totally baffles me. The marketing guy thinks he's a genius, but really he's a doofus. The biggest mistake GEICO's making is that it's not sending a cohesive brand image - the main reason for advertising.

If I were the marketing guy there, I'd stick with the lizard and ditch all the other campaigns.

an Donalbane said...

The commercial that really rankles me of late (I may have to blog on this) is the Lexus ad featuring an obnoxious, vacuous, and self-centered girl who gloats about getting a real pony for Christmas. The scene dissolves to the present, when she receives a new Lexus CUV, and exclaims it's the most 'perfect' Christmas ever.

I politely, but strongly, disagree.

Does Toyota/Lexus' marketing focus group data show that their customers are so shallow?

Maybe I'm over-reacting, but it offends me that perfection for the Christmas season is presented as receiving some overpriced car. In fact, the perfect gift can be received by all who will accept it, and costs nothing.

And it just happens the holiday is named after him. Imagine that!

Don Dodson said...

He is genius enough to get you blogging about Geico.

Anonymous said...

the gecko came first ... THEN the cavemen.