"It Just Sits There, Staring At Me," by Curtis Montgomery

It’s hard to admit, but some commercials are actually quite entertaining. They amuse us; stick with us. Those are the exceptions, though. Usually, commercials are just annoying.

One enterprising company is paving the way by having both.

When Geico came out with the commercials using the animated gecko, they were kind of amusing. The interaction between the people and the animated gecko was strangely realistic. The actors appear to be looking at the animation, not past it. There is great detail in the gecko and his motions, allowing you to forget that you are watching an animated character. I like the little extra things that they have the gecko do, like drink from a coffee mug or almost fall off a branch when he leans back against it. It gives us a sense of the character.

Next came the cavemen. Again, when the first ad came out, I thought it was amusing. When the second one came out I thought, “These commercials are going to get old fast.”
I was wrong. After all the different cavemen ads have come out, I actually still find them amusing. The writers have done a great job developing these characters. I like that they have committed to these cavemen. They have gone the extra mile so that not only are the ads entertaining; they leave you wondering what’s next. The amazing part about this is that the commercials are all basically saying the same thing, but I’m not bored.

Now, Geico has started using the stack of money. This isn’t just any stack of money. This stack of money has eyeballs. All of these commercials are the same, you see people living everyday life and then someone sees the stack of money. It’s like a scene from a horror film. A character is just walking along and sees a random object that wasn’t there before. It has mysteriously appeared. “Where did it come from? Is someone here? Is someone watching? Am I in danger? Should I be running away right now?” Does Geico think this is a good idea or was it just the best idea that they had? I would think that somewhere along the line, someone would watch this and say, “This is not entertaining at all.” I know what you are thinking, commercials are not about being entertaining they’re about getting you to think about the product. That is true, but, if you had good commercials before, why would you want to move to something else?

I think what Geico should do is have the characters be drawn to the money and then it blows up or maybe they step on a hidden bear trap. They could then say something like, “That’s the money you wasted on insurance and now its out to get you” (I would choose a less cheesy line). Somehow, it seems like it would be more fun to watch.