I Predicted the Future!

D'Snowth

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Wait... those were from the 90s? I had no idea. I've seen them before, but I never remember seeing (let alone, knowing what Geico was) before the days of the Gecko (back when he was uptight and British before being laxed and Australian), though I do remember seeing them for a period of time when the original Gecko started fading away into brief little silent cameos in commercials (like him riding in a convertible with a hot chick, or having his own personal parking space at Geico Headquarters)... I kind of figured those were to compensate for them running out of ideas for Gecko commercials... kind of like for a while there, when we weren't getting any new Gecko or Cavemen commercials, we had, "Could switching to Geico really save you 15% or more on car insurance? (Pause) Is the sky blue?"... THOSE were funny at first, but it's like each one got more and more cringeworthy to the point you could tell they were running out of ideas for that schtick too.

Even Mayhem recently pulled a twist on us recently: he's ALWAYS the cause or result of some kind of accident in the commercials, only this time, while he's riding in the back of a pickup truck, with the tailgate still open, and contents falling out onto the highway, you would expect him to fall out as well... but he actually doesn't.
 

Drtooth

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Back in 1996, before the Gecko, cavemen, and Maxwell, Geico had an ad campaign with animations by Bill Plympton. "We all do dumb things. Paying too much for car insurance doesn't have to be one of them".
These ads were hysterical, and could've won a Clio (the Grammy equivalent for commercials). Back in college, Plympton visited us and showed us a film he just finished called "One Of These Days". Some of the ideas from the Geico ads came from this film.
Bill's one of the modern masters of animation right there. He has a way with extremely violent imagery that isn't sloppily handed. One of my favorites was a battle between two guys doing horrible stuff to each other, and at the end they both sissy punch each other and start crying. At least as well as my recollection goes. I haven't seen that one in a while.

Anyway, my favorite Geico commercials always have to do with Looney Tunes. They need more of those ones. Like the one where Foghorn Leghorn narrates books on tape, or the one where the Gecko wanders into the South West into a Road Runner and Coyote cartoon.
 

MartyMuppets

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LOL I had a real laugh out of that Youtube link Snowth. I like that camel. :big_grin:
 

minor muppetz

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Seriously? You guys don't like the Hump Day Camel? I think he's hilarious! Gecko's been losing his spark lately, Maxwell's pig in a blanket commercial is the funniest one he's had in a long time, and I'm assuming the Cavemen are extinct now.

At first I thought the commercial was annoying, but after seeing it a few times I've come to like the camel. Of course I hadn't heard of Hump Day until those commercials. And yes, he is a lot better than those bland Gecko and Pig characters I never really liked.

As far as I know he's only been in two commercials (Hump Day and Movie Day). I'd been calling him the Hump Day Camel, but Hump Day isn't mentioned in the second commercial. Maybe the "Geico Camel" would be a more appropriate name.
 

Drtooth

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I saw one of those buses that they have this huge advertisement shrink wrapped all over (or whatever you call it)...

Gecko, Pig and Camel. All three. He's been promoted to third major advertising mascot for Geico.
 

minor muppetz

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Actually... so far yes, but it seems like that could wear very very thin. I like how this one is exclusively for theaters, but something tells me I'm going to see it too often if I go to the movies.

I don't know about you, but since this commercial came out, nearly every time I went to the movies, I only saw the ad once. But last week when I saw Mr. Peabody and Sherman, I didn't see it at all (maybe I came in too late, maybe it played while I was in the restroom, dunno).
 
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