Making minor deities disappear in a puff of logic since 1972
Mon, 15 Sep 2008
I've liked the Geico Cavemen commercials. Witty, edgy while conveying the message, "So easy, a caveman can do it."
But their "Tennis Match" ad featuring Billy Jean King just doesn't make sense. If you have to spend more than 30 seconds trying to figure out an ad, it's a failure. (I reject the premise that the ad worked because I'm sharing it with you... Unless of course, you're going to go out and buy Geico because I mentioned it just now).
Here's the ad in its entirety:
Here's the problem. All of the other cavemen ads are funny precisely because in the world of the cavemen, the Geico ads are atypically stereotypical-- meaning, the cavemen are intellectual members of modern society, and that Geico maligns them with their "so easy a caveman can do it" slogan. The cavemen resent being portrayed as, well, cavemen.
So, continuing this saga, we find ourselves at a tennis match between a caveman and Billy Jean King. (Clearly the context is to refer to the "Battle of the Sexes" match with Billy Jean King in which, again, a stereotype is shattered-- that a woman couldn't possibly defeat a man, but that's exactly what happened (in real life).)
So the dialog begins:
Caveman: I can't believe I've beating Billie Jean King
Billy Jean: You're not beating me, in fact you haven't even gotten a serve in.
Wait a sec, if cavemen aren't really stupid in the ad's reality, then they should be able to know whether they've scored a point, right?
Caveman: OK You might want to take a gander at the, uh, "scoreboard!"
Caveman: [Looking at the scoreboard himself] Whoa, what's with the Geico sign, Billy Jean?
Judge: They're sponsoring all of this.
Again, cavemen are smart in this reality, right? So how did he not notice all the signs?
Caveman: I get it. I quit!.... But I get it.
I guess what he "gets" is that Geico has basically hired Billy Jean King to take the cavemen down a notch, just like she did with male chauvinism? Except the cavemen aren't espousing chauvinism... They're espousing equality?!?
Caveman: [Finding a Geico sign on his chair] Oh, look.. it, it's hilarious...
It's disappointing to see such a clever campaign undermined by a poorly written, poorly executed, half-assed attempt at parlaying the "Battle of the Sexes" to some "Battle of the Species". It just doesn't work for me.
Maybe I missed something. Can someone explain this ad in the context of the message the other ads have conveyed? (While you're at it, maybe you can explain the lunacy of advertising that Gates and Seinfeld are engaged in?)
Gerry -- writes:
I agree that this commercial is incomprehensible. How could the caveman be playing tennis to a 6-0, 6-0, 5-0 stage in favor of Billy Jean and think that he is ahead? In all the other caveman commercials the caveman is of above average intelligence and in this one he it totally out of it. If anyone understands this commercial I would like to hear it.