Sunday, June 25, 2006

The Geico gecko.

What's the story behind the Geico gecko?

The makers sought a very natural icon, a "total normal human being trapped in the body of a gecko—adding something new to the genre of icon," Lawson says. No Pillsbury doughboy, no caricature, nothing "hopped up on pills, needing Ritalin."
You know you love him. C'mon, admit it. He has a blog. And a fan club.

4 comments:

Brad said...

I wonder if the voice actor get recognized?

"I know you from somewhere."

"no, no, mate, i'm new in town."

"no, it's your voice. Do you commentate the rugby matches?

Trundling Grunt said...

What I like about the gecko is the way they've saddled him with a London accent - so the 'Come on in, how's yer mum' makes perfect sense. How do Americans handle the whole pie and chips bit - that only makes sense in English (so to speak)?

Kathy said...

I assume most Americans think he means our version of chips, potato chips that come in a bag from companies like Lay's. While we do have meat pies, it's not the first thing that comes to most of our minds when you say "pie".

Until I do my Brit-to-American translation in my head when that commercial comes on (you know, when I'm not TiVoing past it) it sounds for a moment like he's offering up a horrible combo of cherry pie and potato chips.

I'm not sure why they'd choose to have him say pie and chips, other than to make him seem exotic and interesting, coming from a different culture in a charming and lovely sort of way.

I can't say I'm that fond of the gecko. I'm not much for reptiles in general after I had a basement apartment in a brownstone when I was in college and I would regularly find little dead lizards and garden snakes around the place, courtesy of my cat.

Trundling Grunt said...

k: I guess that was my poorly phrased point - if an insurance quote from these guys is as appealing as cherry pie with a bag of Ruffles on the side, then does it sell your insurance? It's a bit like Steelers quarterback and a crash helmet - they just don't go together.