So I love the Geico gecko commercials, particularly the one when he tells me that he’ll watch my kids; I’m like a brother to him. You may recall my recent bemoaning of England’s egregious lack of said commercials. Apparently someone was listening.
comparethemarket.com is a UK website that lets you compare all sorts of different kinds of insurance. Their recent advertising campaign features one Aleksandr Orlov:
The basic premise is the same: people confuse Geico for gecko; people confuse comparethemarket.com for comparethemeerkat.com. At first I was on the fence re: blatant rip off? Or acceptable interloper?
I am forced to conclude the latter, for the following reasons:
- Meerkats: inherently cute.
- Meerkat accent: Russian. Presumably because British accents are not all that funny to British people. Go figure.
- Bonus: English as a second language hilarity: “As you can hearing, I am speak very good English. Is important for business, I feel. I learn English from cassette tape.”
- Meerkat attire: Red silk smoking jacket.
- Just when the commercial has me swinging back to “blatant rip off” conclusion, meerkat in question clinches victory with the coup de grace: “Simples!” he shrugs, and then makes an adorable meerkat chirp.
I am sold. I kind of wish Geico and comparethemarket.com were in the same market so the furry and non-furry not-quite-woodland creatures could battle it out in style.
