I know the auto insurance market is very competitive right now and some of these companies are flooding the airwaves with television and radio spots. I think the talking gecko for Geico is cute. Hiring the very debonair actor Dennis Haysbert has worked very well for AllState as he's a believable and trustworthy spokesman. Now something about Flo the salesclerk isn't quite working for me with Progressive. Just the fact that they're called "progressive" and have slipped in what I'd term the 2000-decade version of "Hip-Hop Jive Talk" is irritating as all heck. I get that she's supposed to be slightly quirky so I let the colloquialism-gone-wild go.
Yet there's another commercial where she quips "power to the people" that gave me pause. To render the anti-establishment political slogan from the '60's that meant so much into a one-liner tossed out so casually is an offense that should be noted - not that I'd buy their insurance anyway. It just proves how corporations co-opt everything that was at one point considered cool and ruined it! This isn't as bad as the Burger King SpongeBob Got Back ad but it's still highly questionable.
I get distracted for a much more shallow reason-I find her incredibly attractive! lol Wearing the bright red lipstick in that type of work environment is slightly unusual and slightly reminds me of Bettie Page, so incredibly distracting for me as well... Though, yes, I find her language to be a little too cutesy to convince me that I should go for Progressive. I don't think cutesy is the way to go right now for insurance companies-seems a little disrespectful almost in our dire economic times.
ReplyDeleteWell okey dokey KC! Bright red lipstick does seem to imply something a little - saucy. I guess we could deconstruct this commercial for days, huh?
ReplyDeleteI really can't hate on these commercials too much, because I know that the actor playing the insurance salesperson has an AFTRA?SAG card, health insurance, and steady paycheck.
ReplyDeleteEG: Thanks for your participation. This type of commercial would typically fall under SAG jurisdiction but there's quite a few commercials and things you'd see on cable where the actor got paid a few hundred dollars and the contract would be non-union with no benefits.
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