Geico Gecko

Now that we can DVR our favorite tv shows and watch them whenever we want and fast forward through all the commercial gunk, we don’t pay much attention to network sales pitches. And it’s especially nice to be able to skip that annoying dufus in the Toyota commercials, or that silly family who discover they have no money to pay their restaurant bill and have to wash dishes, bemoaning the fact that they hadn’t gotten a loan on their car title, or the Cox Bundle guy who blurts out to his neighbor the end of a big game the neighbor had DVRed and who captures his son in an embarrassing moment and puts it on YouTube. But there’s one company whose writers must just click their heels at the thought of going to work to come up with more clever and funny stuff to woo the public. Yes, I’m talking about Geico Insurance. There’s never been a cuter, more clever little sales icon than the Geico gecko. The Pillsbury doughboy can’t touch him. The Eveready bunny can’t touch him. The Aflac duck can’t touch him. Jack in the Box can’t touch him. They started out with the indignant caveman, who finally ran his course, and they then began the more popular gecko series. In addition to the gecko ads, in the course of a week we might see a dozen or more different commercials they’ve made: Maxwell the pig who can’t believe that flight attendant actually said she’d believe that when pigs fly; the series about unwise owls and old MacDonald who can’t spell “cow”; all the “How happy is he?” bits about Dracula volunteering at a blood drive, the Pillsbury dough boy on his way to a baking contest, Mutombo blocking shots, a body builder directing traffic, an antelope with night vision goggles, and funniest of all, the camel who keeps asking everyone in the office what day it is. If I ever needed to change my insurance, I wouldn’t hesitate to call up the Geico guys, in hopes I’d one day get to meet that funny UK gecko. Or is he Australian?