Tuesday, June 3, 2008

There is no solidarity in this world. Thank you, Geico.

I don't get out much. Nor do I watch television that often. But when I do, I like familiarity.

I like to know that that Southern man with the carparts business will always be singing his own jingle, badly; that Smucker's jam commercials will have blond children in a vaguely rural setting that reeks of Americana; and that McDonald's commercials will end with "Ba da ba ba.... I'm lovin' it."

I do not like to be faced with a voice I do not know coming out of a face I've grown to cherish.

That's right, Geico gecko. I realize you've changed voices several times since your inception. But that doesn't mean I approve, and now, I'd like to go on record as saying so.

You've changed. You used to sound like Jeeves. Now you sound like some... pseudo British guy. Who is classy and dresses well, but still probably washes cars in pseudo Britain. You know what I mean? It's not stateside, so it's chic and adorable and not TOO far off from the cult-chah-ed original... and it's also a little urban and edgy... hair of Cockney, as if that makes you more down to earth and relaxed.

Ok. Whatever, doode.

This is not to say I don't like your new(ish... you've had it for what? a year now?) voice, because I do. I find it chic and adorable and not TOO far off from the cult-chah-ed original (which, according to my research, was voiced by Kelsey Grammar). But still.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I totally agree! I'd say his accent now is leaning more towards Australian than anything. Did you also notice that he originally DIDN'T have the abiblity to save people money on car insurence by switching to Geico, you know, when everyone would call him and get Gecko confused with Geico. The two had nothing to do with each other. I guess they thought a British-accented amphibian would be a good way to market their product. And they were right.

Claire said...

You are so right! I'd almost forgotten about the original plotlines. The only thing you're wrong about is that it's a British-accented reptile, not an amphibian.

Anonymous said...

Ah, right! For some reason I always get small reptiles and amphibians confuzed.So much college biology did for me :-p

Anonymous said...

There's a debate on another blog about whether the gecko is Australian or British. And I too completely forgot the original premise that people confused the two, rather than one being a spokesperson. Thanks for the reminder.