Seeing as I work in a place surrounded by TVs, something occured to me today: Those Geico ads where they say "so easy a caveman can do it" might be the most racist things ever on TV.

 

When they did the first one, it was funny, but now that they've seemingly turned it into an ongoing thing, it's getting more uncomfortable to watch.

 

I know what you're thinking: the silly bleeding-heart finally flipped his wig. But follow me on this:

 

in the first ads, the joke was it's okay to offend cavemen because they don't exist anymore, but now that it's become a running gag the joke has flipped to the cavemen taking it too personally. He's seeing ads that make fun of him everywhere, but the tone makes it seem he's the one taking things too seriously.

 

The punchline in the original ad was that they didn't even bother to do research to see if cavemen still exist and it turns out they had a few in their crew, which kind of insinuated they don't even bother to pay attention to their own employees. Now in the latest, he's seeing a (female) shrink who's again suggesting somehow he's making too big a deal about having his "kind" made fun of and he shoots back "what if they were saying 'so easy even a therapist could do it?' in those ads". The first thing I thought of when I saw it was the more logical comparison would be to ask what if it was asking "so easy even a woman could do it". That's when it started to click in my head just how easy it would be to turn these ads into some real offensive shit. I mean, you subsititute practially anything for "caveman" in those ads and you'd have every group in the world calling for their heads.

 

Maybe I'm just too bored at work, but it really took me off guard how much a supposedly cute and funny insurance commercial ended up being social commentary on how a lot of folks view certian "kinds".

It probably is territory the advertising world shouldn't enter, first because they have nothing to gain from doing it, but also because they're pretty much guaranteed to cause at least one response like this.

 

Still less annoying than those Truth commercials.

There isn't much point to the commercials, either. That shit with the gecko is working well enough for them, it's not even a risk Geico should be taking. I wish they'd be taken off TV because, well..... they suck.

I agree. At this point, I'd be less inclined to call Geico because their stupid commercials are annoying the hell out of me. And since my wife wrote our truck off today when she wrapped it around a telephone poll...I may actually be looking for a new insurance provider soon...because if the one I use now uses this as an excuse to jack up my rates...they're history. Just like cavemen.

 

Damn. That was a convoluted post on my part.

Seeing as I work in a place surrounded by TVs, something occured to me today: Those Geico ads where they say "so easy a caveman can do it" might be the most racist things ever on TV.

 

When they did the first one, it was funny, but now that they've seemingly turned it into an ongoing thing, it's getting more uncomfortable to watch.

 

I know what you're thinking: the silly bleeding-heart finally flipped his wig. But follow me on this:

 

in the first ads, the joke was it's okay to offend cavemen because they don't exist anymore, but now that it's become a running gag the joke has flipped to the cavemen taking it too personally. He's seeing ads that make fun of him everywhere, but the tone makes it seem he's the one taking things too seriously.

 

The punchline in the original ad was that they didn't even bother to do research to see if cavemen still exist and it turns out they had a few in their crew, which kind of insinuated they don't even bother to pay attention to their own employees. Now in the latest, he's seeing a (female) shrink who's again suggesting somehow he's making too big a deal about having his "kind" made fun of and he shoots back "what if they were saying 'so easy even a therapist could do it?' in those ads". The first thing I thought of when I saw it was the more logical comparison would be to ask what if it was asking "so easy even a woman could do it". That's when it started to click in my head just how easy it would be to turn these ads into some real offensive shit. I mean, you subsititute practially anything for "caveman" in those ads and you'd have every group in the world calling for their heads.

 

Maybe I'm just too bored at work, but it really took me off guard how much a supposedly cute and funny insurance commercial ended up being social commentary on how a lot of folks view certian "kinds".

When I first read that I basically thought, "what the hell are you talking? It's a caveman, not a black nor woman." Then after a while it occured to me you may be referring to blacks who live in a ghetto as possibly being seen as cavemen. That said, cavemen are seen as simple-minded. Blacks are not seen as that simple minded to most I would hope. Until you even said anything, I only saw the ads as a joke referring to all the paperwork and work in general that is required at other companies -- unlike Geico which makes the process easy. Hence the fact that a caveman can do it.

 

The fact that someone would see it as either racist or sexiest bothers me and seems typical of politically correct American attitude. While I can see a case for comparing cavemen to other ethnics, there is no comparison at all to women. The ad itself is not meant to be offensive! It is not meant so you can change caveman to something else and call it discrimination. It is making fun of the mental capabilities of early man and the hard-to-understand by almost all details of getting car insurance -- NOTHING ELSE!

 

When I first read that I basically thought, "what the hell are you talking? It's a caveman, not a black nor woman." Then after a while it occured to me you may be referring to blacks who live in a ghetto as possibly being seen as cavemen. That said, cavemen are seen as simple-minded. Blacks are not seen as that simple minded to most I would hope. Until you even said anything, I only saw the ads as a joke referring to all the paperwork and work in general that is required at other companies -- unlike Geico which makes the process easy. Hence the fact that a caveman can do it.

 

 

 

Uh no, I wasn't trying to state that people view blacks as cavemen. Just look at the commercials. They make fun of a group of people (all be it one that doesn't exist anymore, therefore safe to mock), and then subsequent commericals have the caveman basically being made fun of again for taking offense.

 

 

The fact that someone would see it as either racist or sexiest bothers me and seems typical of politically correct American attitude. While I can see a case for comparing cavemen to other ethnics, there is no comparison at all to women. The ad itself is not meant to be offensive! It is not meant so you can change caveman to something else and call it discrimination. It is making fun of the mental capabilities of early man and the hard-to-understand by almost all details of getting car insurance -- NOTHING ELSE!

 

 

It's been my experience that the term "politically correct" tends to be invoked the most by people who want to excuse or defend their racism. Besides, if making fun of the mental capabilities of early man is the point, why is the caveman in the commerical depicted as intellegent? He's shown working on a camera crew, eating at a fancy restaurant, using a cell phone, etc. At the very least it's becoming more mean spirited as they go on.