Insurance

Oh my!!! Heaven knows I NEED insurance, but from whom shall I purchase???? I love little lizards but I just can't stand those stupid Geiko commercials anymore. At first (for about two or three weeks) I thought they were cute. Now I've really had it. It's not so much the gecko that annoys me, it's the humans... and the scripts for the stupid commercials. If it was just the lizard I think I could take seeing these things over and over again, but as they stand, I can't hit fast forward fast enough. Actually, I have a button that jumps past them all together and I use that one anytime the gecko appears.

Worse even than the gecko is the "watching you" ad campaign more recently
engaged by this company that wastes far too much money on advertising. Long ago I thought that was a pretty good song, now I feel my irritation level rise whenever I hear it -- Sold out silver (not even gold)... and sold out for this absurd, chalk on a blackboard, worthy of ridicule (yes, ridiculous) -- or, actually -- ignorant (worthy of being ignored) advertisement. Do you get the feeling I don't like it?

All is not lost, however. I am almost embarrassed to admit my soft spot for the caveman. Except when enormously over-played, I can't help but slow down the DVR and watch the caveman commercials. I can see these a half-dozen times before I finally get sick of them and maybe will even watch them again if I haven't seen them for awhile. There's something about that one particular guy (the one pictured left) that just gets me.

Yeah, I know he had his own show. I don't think I ever even saw it. And I know his show was supposed to be really bad. But the commercials are great. It's silly because you know what's coming, but somehow it never ceases to give me a chuckle. I especially like the one where he takes the gorgeous blond out to the beach and they're having a great time then the plane flies over with the, "so easy a caveman can do it," banner and he says, "I'll be waiting in the car." I love that one!

Okay Geico... one out of three is not a good score!!
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Then we have Allstate... No fair... you're using the President to sell your insurance!! Who wouldn't believe President Palmer (from 24, for those of you who think I'm out of my mind) when he suggests that we're in good hands! This is the man that paved the way for Barack Obama, people!!! The only problem with these commercials is that they're pretty dull. After the first few, when we kept joking with each other that it was President Palmer, there was no hesitation about hitting the fast forward button. When watching "live" however, I did pause for a moment when he discussed getting back part of your premium if you didn't have an accident, until I realized that probably just meant they charged more up front. President Palmer is a pretty convincing guy. I wonder, though, if they're going to hire Cherry Jones as their next spokesperson... probably not... President Taylor did not turn out to be a strong role model like President Palmer (24 again). She's not setting up Hilary too well, but maybe a little bit.
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Now here's a spokesperson that would annoy any sane person, right? The enthusiastic and perky Flo from Progressive. Somehow, though, I just love this girl... and it's not only me... I went to Florida to visit my mom and when we were watching TV, my mom tells me she loves Flo too!! Pretty soon I see Flo in a movie with Ben Stiller... The Heartbreak Kid... So I IMDB'd her. Turns out the woman is 40 years old!!! I would have never believed she was a day over 32! Anyway, there is something very engaging about her... not so engaging that I'll slow down the DVR, but so engaging that I don't resent having to watch her live. What is it about dear Flo?? Well... she seems so sincere. She loves her job. She loves Progressive. She seems like a real person who goes home and feeds her cat at night and invites her girlfriends over to watch TV and eat popcorn and who would be really fun to go to an amusement park with. She doesn't seem particularly smart, but she seems very warm-hearted. It's crazy... you watch these commercials and you get this whole sense of her being a REAL person and that makes Progressive seem "real." Like there is really a Progressive store where you could go and find Flo and actually pick your insurance off the shelves if you only lived in the right city. And I guess that's what they were after AND IT WORKS... I almost considered calling - until I realized that it was the advertisers working their magic again. I am soooo susceptible!!
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And, finally, it's not insurance but, by golly, you gotta have it because what if, God forbid, you should suddenly have a seizure and your four year old boy is sitting in the back seat. Or what if you're lost in some very bad neighborhood or your car gives out on you on the same highway that houses the Texas chainsaw guy... What if your car rolls and you can't reach your cellphone... crap, I can think of a million reasons you NEED this service!!!! It's ONSTAR and the people at the OnStar command center (pictured - and that's REALLY it -- I know, because I got the picture from the Internet!) are waiting 24-7 to come to your aid just when you need it the most! I don't know which are scarier, their TV commercials or their radio ads. I think maybe their radio ads are the scariest because you can't even see them! You just hear the poor schmuck who's in trouble and who would be SOL if he/she didn't have OnStar to turn to and because YOU don't have OnStar you know what's going to happen to you when you are in the same dire circumstances. Or, worse, what's going to happen to your poor child as he struggles to deal with the situation while you are unconscious. Oh, and by the way, OnStar comes free for one-year when you buy a General Motors car. Guess what kind of car I'm thinking about buying in the near future?