Annoyance Levels of Insurance Ad Mascots
The range is from "slightly bothered" to "death".
Annoy-Meter
(The above gadget is a working Annoy-Meter, created by ddoouubbllee, for a project at the University of South Florida. Read all about it on Instructables.com)
The big American insurance companies all spend hundreds of millions dollars on advertising every year, oversaturating our screens with their overexposed mascots. They don’t care. If you’ve ever dealt with an insurance company, then you know how fucking Evil they are. This they do care about, a little bit, which is why they have cute, “funny”, distracting mascots to make them seem the opposite of Evil.
This list and the “levels” are of course very subjective. Mascots presented in no particular order. Please share your views on the mascots in the comments.
Geico Gecko
The Cockneye-accented “lizard” (he’s not real, in case you’re confused) has been Geico’s mascot for over 20 years, since 2000. The average lifespan of an actual gecko is 15 years. He was “fun”(ish) for maybe a year or two. How was he created? Well, “Geico” was sometimes mispronounced as “gecko”—connect the dots. He has cost Geico hundreds of millions of media dollars but has probably made them billions—so they’re not retiring him anytime soon. And believe me, the creatives at The Martin Agency have thousands of unused Gecko ideas waiting to be pitched. They should delete all of them, because he has blown way past “annoying”. Annoyance Level: DEATH. Behead him with an axe, publicly.
Progressive “Flo”
The insurance giant has been airing “Flo” commercials since 2008. Like the Gecko, I see her every fucking day, have seen her thousands and thousands of times. I’ve seen her more than my wife in the last 13 years. (No, that’s not a good thing.) Annoyance Level: Death. I don’t want her “killed”, but I don’t want to see her on my screens anymore. Maybe Progressive’s ad agency (Arnold Worldwide) can use their big-ass budget to project her onto the full moon every month, just to keep her “top of mind”.
Allstate “Mayhem”
“Mayhem” began on January 1, 2010. His campaign was paused, but now he’s back. (In his latest spot, above, he jumps off an exercise bike through a glass door.) I chuckle slightly, occasionally, at his ads but I don’t think he sells Allstate insurance very effectively. Leo Burnett (his creator and ad agency) most certainly has a PowerPoint proving me wrong. Annoyance Level: Annoyed.
Aflac Duck
The Duck, originally voiced (or “quacked”) by Gilbert Gottfried, debuted in January 2000, migrated away from TV for awhile, but came back about 3-4 months ago (at a reduced budget). The “idea” that “Aflac” sounded like a duck quack came to a Kaplan Thayer Group (Aflac’s agency) art director as they walked through Central Park, supposedly (source: blog.Adobe). I was (am) very annoyed that his ads weren’t funnier, or really funny at all. What a waste. Annoyance Level: Really Annoyed.
State Farm “Jake”
Everybody loves handsome “Jake” and his beautiful smile and soft voice and hard bod—except me and probably the origin Jake (L). The first “Jake” spot (watch here) aired in 2011, starring actual State Farm agent Jake Stone. The ad was very popular and the company was stoked. But the commercial upset the Transgender community (read all about the controversy here on the Medium site Money Clip.), and State Farm ended up pulling it. Years later, they redid the ad, nearly exactly, with ripped Jake (Kevin Miles). Miles has since become a big celebrity (OK, maybe B list). State Farm pumped up their ad budget and fucking fake Jake is fucking everywhere. I’m happy for Miles’ success, but Jake needs to get got. Annoyance Level: Death. The real Jake “kills” him in an 18-century pistols duel.
Farmers: Professor Nathaniel Burke
The great JK Simmons. I worked with JK, for one morning, on a (CLIO award-winning, hold the applause) radio campaign back in the 90s, before he “made it”. I don’t blame him for hopping on the insurance ad gravy train. But: Farmers’ ads are stultifyingly boring, though seemingly a bit more honest. Annoyance Level: Annoyed.
Progressive “Dr. Rick”
Dr. Rick was introduced in April 2020, again by Arnold Worldwide. His spots, about trying to stop people from becoming their parents, are mildly funny. Dr. Rick has no patience and he’s a bit of an asshole (like me). But because of the concept of the campaign, I forget that’s he selling insurance and have a hard time recalling the brand. And it’s my job to know these facts, so I know I’m not the only one with a recall problem. Anyway, Annoyance Level: Just a slight twitch of the needle, because Progressive’s budget for him is much less than Flo’s.
General Insurance “The General”
FUCK the general. And Shaq, you should be embarrassed to be in ads with him. Is there anything you won’t endorse? Annoyance Level: DEATH, by firing squad, no bayonets.
Liberty Mutual: Doug & the LiMu Emu
Very perplexing campaign that started in 2019. (The beach volleyball spot was mildly humorous.) It grew out of “people” (Liberty Mutual employees) shortening the company’s name to “LiMu”. Companies are always looking to put animals in their ads (see: gecko, duck), and “somebody” figured out that “Emu” rhymed and, I’ll keep educatedly guessing, they didn’t want to go with a talking animated Emu, so enter “Doug”. Annoyance Level: “Angry Face”. (Note: Liberty Mutual runs a second campaign with various stupid scenarios on the NYC waterfront (a studio) with the Statue of “Liberty” in the background. Which is a fucking insult to every American.
NOTE 1: Not included is Esurance “Erin” who lasted about a year but was ended because she was turned into a pornographic character by the usual internet suspects. I also left out Snoopy for MetLife, which is Evil. Update: Progressive also has a campaign featuring the Sign Guy. The best Insurance mascots ever? The Geico Cavemen.
NOTE 2: The post is about the brand characters, not the often talented actors who portray them. The annoyance is [mostly] not their fault.
I briefly worked on the account for General Accident in the UK, which then featured a General Accident and his sidekick, Major Problem. The campaign ran and ran, maybe for over three months, before thankfully disappearing from sight. If you google it today, you'll find only a reference to how I briefly worked on it.
Cr.
You continue to be so smart fast & too hip for the room. Annoyance theatre ads as always you called it.
Made me laugh out loud.
Catherine