Get Geico Get Happy
Get Geico, Get Happy! Geico is a car insurance company which has used several advertising techniques that address many of the fifteen basic appeals, described by Jib Fowles, to gain potential customers (Fowles 1). For instance, the need for affiliation has been catered to through advertising depicting Geico as the best there is. People tend to affiliate themselves with top companies. Emotional appeal is catered to primarily; the premise being to invoke the idea that getting Geico insurance will make you happy. A series of “Happier Than” television advertisements were aired (Geico). Each episode portrays a random scenario, followed by two Bluegrass pickers named Ronny and Jimmy, performing a slapstick routine on a small stage. Each event leads to one picker asking a question along the line of, “How happy are people when they switch to Geico?” at which point the second picker delivers a punch line related to the content of the commercial (Geico). This method utilizes two distinct styles: humor and celebrity (Fowles 11). The approach relies heavily on implying that using Geico can make you as happy as someone else.
Actual events, and celebrities, from history are often pitted against fictional possibilities to create the humor. One example involves Paul Revere using a cellular phone (Geico 2013). I found this to be very appealing based on how the ad is presented, how it relates to the target audience, and how imagery is used to convey the message. The ad is presented in a fashion that takes us back to a time in history prior to our current technology; however, it incorporates the use of a cell phone. It relates to the target audience because our modern generation uses cell phones to communicate most of the time. In this case, the message conveyed is that switching to Geico will make you “Happier than Paul Revere with a cell phone” (Geico). The entire commercial relies on humor to not only gain the interest of the audience, but to convince them of the sell at the
Actual events, and celebrities, from history are often pitted against fictional possibilities to create the humor. One example involves Paul Revere using a cellular phone (Geico 2013). I found this to be very appealing based on how the ad is presented, how it relates to the target audience, and how imagery is used to convey the message. The ad is presented in a fashion that takes us back to a time in history prior to our current technology; however, it incorporates the use of a cell phone. It relates to the target audience because our modern generation uses cell phones to communicate most of the time. In this case, the message conveyed is that switching to Geico will make you “Happier than Paul Revere with a cell phone” (Geico). The entire commercial relies on humor to not only gain the interest of the audience, but to convince them of the sell at the
Cited: Cirlot, J.E. A Dictionary of Symbols: 2nd Edition. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, Inc. 2002. Print. Fowles, Jib. Common Culture: Reading and Writing About American Popular Culture. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall. Pp. 60-77. 1998. Print. Geico. Happier Than Paul Revere. YouTube.com. 2013. Web. 2013.