By admin
What started out being mildly funny has now become embarrassingly stale. Do you still laugh at those cave man auto insurance commercials? Of course not. It’s played. They should really retire that whole concept before it turns into something ugly that does damage to the company image. That is, if you can even name the company who runs those ads. Can you? Yeah, most of you probably can, despite the fact that these commercials have absolutely nothing to do with selling auto insurance.
For those of you that can’t name the company, it’s Geico. This isn’t their only ad campaign currently running. Unfortunately it isn’t their only bad ad campaign currently running either. They also have that stupid gecko with the British accent being followed around by the naturalist (who also has a British accent) observing his behavior. What’s that about? Humor? Couldn’t somebody have told these guys that those spots are not even remotely funny? And what’s with all the English accents when trying to sell auto insurance in America? If this is British humor, that might explain things - but it still doesn’t excuse the bad ads.
All right I’m going to give Geico a break here and recognize them for an outstanding ad campaign that they ran in the recent past. The one where people in perilous situations set you up to hear them answer important questions with I just saved a ton of money on auto insurance by switching to Geico. That campaign rocked. Some of those commercials fooled absolutely everybody until the end when they pulled the “gotcha.” Usually they set you up to where somebody said But I have good news…. It was entertaining, it was brilliant, and most importantly it had everybody in America imitating it around the office water cooler (trying to “get” their co-workers with the But there is good news line).
The current ad campaigns really suck by comparison, especially the Geico gecko. The cave man ads started off being funny, because the characters in the ads are entertaining. But they have apparently played this angle out to it’s full potential. In the beginning just the angry stares of the characters were hilarious. But they were funny in a light-beer commercial kind of way, not in a way that does any real product branding.
It wasn’t long after the ad campaign started before a sitcom with the cavemen hit prime-time TV. It failed miserably and was soon canceled. Apparently they ran out of good plots just as fast as the commercials ran out of usable spins on the concept.
The current angle on the cavemen is having Geico signs pop up in unexpected places, resulting in the cavemen throwing their hands up in the air in disgust. It ain’t funny. It’s not entertaining. It’s…… old. I’m getting sick of these guys and I can’t imagine any new spins that are going to save them. If this company insists on pushing this ad campaign on us any further, they are going to be in danger of generating the same disgust the cavemen have for their company in the people watching the commercials. I am just about there.
And by the way, ads that depict people being disgusted with your company are a really stupid idea, no matter how you spin them.
Papa Riah
Technorati Tags: advertising, television
By admin
A gas station in my neck of the woods has lowered prices to around $2.50 per gallon. In these here parts that is the lowest we have seen in quite some time. And it makes me laugh. Not the bemused, satirical kind of laughter which you might expect coming from me being directed at some fad or group of people. This was more of a happy, giddy, celebration-type laughter one might find himself immersed in after winning a large bet.
You see, Papa Riah went out and purchased a new 8-cylinder, gas-guzzling full size pickup truck when gas prices were around $4.50 per gallon in August. If you listened to news commentators a few months ago, it was a sure thing that gas was going to be over $5 per gallon soon and stay that way forever.
Consequently full-sized truck sales came to a screeching halt over the summer, as the unwashed masses drove up the prices on hybrid vehicles so high you’d think they had diamond-studded steering wheels. Papa Riah wasn’t buying the hype, and neither was his brother-in-law Craig. Craig beat me by a month and purchased a brand new crew cab Ford F150 when gas prices were at their peak approaching $5 per gallon in June. The salesmen at the dealership literally had to go dust off the F150’s (which had been moved to the back of the lot) when he said he wanted to see them. They were almost giving the things away.
I like to buy my vehicles right. That means I purchase them 1 year old with less than 12,000 miles on them, and I hold out for a real deal. This summer I was in the market for a new vehicle and wanted a truck. I knew I was going to go with either the Chevy Silverado or a loaded Toyota Tacoma (and concede to the better mileage hysteria). But in my heart I wanted the Silverado and admired the defying of conventional logic which Craig had pulled off a month earlier. So I watched the used truck inventory at the local dealers on the internet closely, waiting for the right opportunity to come along.
As it turns out I wasn’t the only person working this angle as I missed a couple of the better looking deals by being slow on the trigger. I quickly gave up on the Tacoma idea though, because it became evident that one of those little trucks was going to cost me at least $4,000 more than what I really wanted anyway (even used), so there was no dilemma. It takes a long time to make up for $4,000 in better gas mileage even at $5 per gallon. There were a lot of Chevy trucks for sale out there, but I wanted a certified used from a dealer in one of three colors.
I finally picked it up in early August. A white one, 2007 model with 11,500 miles on it, new body style Silverado 1500, with the windows tinted just the way I like them. They accepted my offer of $18,900 on the asking price of $20,750. It is a perfect, flawless, new truck and I love the thing. Not bad considering brand new ones with zero miles sold in the mid thirties all day long when gas was under three bucks a gallon. (The finance person was quite flabbergasted when I explained how the purchasing of an extended warranty would defeat the purpose of buying a Certified Used Vehicle.)
Is there a lesson to be learned here? Only if you like money. There were plenty of brand new trucks like the one I wanted still priced in the low thirties at all the dealers when I was looking. If I were one of them rich folk who light cigars with hundred dollar bills I could have spent over ten grand more for essentially the same exact thing.
If you just have to buy your new cars absolutely new with close to zero miles because of the new car smell, you will pay dearly for that obsession. Why not purchase a spray bottle of new car smell for a couple dollars instead, buy the car one year used, and possibly save enough money to pay your kid’s college tuition for a year.
In general when there is any kind of mania in society, it’s usually profitable to be betting against it. This goes for just about anything - hot stocks, cold stocks, undefeated sports teams, tulips, and of course full size pickups. As those gas stations keep lowering the numbers on their signs my brother-in-law and I are laughing all the way to the bank.
Papa Riah
Technorati Tags: cars, economy, gas prices
By admin
Sushi restaurants have become a staple in modern society. Where Papa Riah lives there is just about one in every strip mall, and all of them do a good business. The popularity of sushi in modern American society isn’t very hard to explain. The food is both delicious and healthy, and what’s more it’s served in a fun atmosphere. You just can’t beat it. However some people just have to push the envelope in whatever they do until they ruin it. I like to refer to these folks as extreme sushi knuckleheads.
Extreme sushi knuckleheads are looking for shock value. They want to eat something that other people won’t. Which would be fine if they kept it to themselves. But if they kept it to themselves there would be no point to it, and so they wouldn’t even bother. They need you to notice them. They want you to think they are really cool for doing such hardcore sushi. What’s worse is they want to order you some of that ridiculous crap they are eating. So don’t pay much attention to them when you come across one, or you might find that they ordered you a special caterpillar roll - perhaps one crawling with actual live caterpillars.
When an extreme sushi knucklehead pulls up to the sushi restaurant he probably isn’t driving an ordinary car. It will usually be pimped out in some degree or another, no matter what kind of car it is. These guys like to be noticed. If they are bringing a date it’s probably a short little Asian girl (as they don’t seem to be too picky and usually don’t have a problem doing hardcore sushi themselves).
They won’t be dressed in ordinary casual clothes. They will be displaying some bling and have an expensive or unusual shirt. Perhaps expensive designer shoes as well, and many of them like to wear trendy sunglasses even at night. There will be a certain air about them, and everyone in the restaurant will soon become aware that they are on a first name basis with at least one of the chefs.
They will often start out ordering something rather run of the mill - for them that is, as it will likely be the most extreme thing you ever order. Maybe a special, colorful rainbow roll or something. Their drink of choice will be something really cool - a Scorpion for two in a porcelain clamshell shaped vessel, or premium cold Sake that comes out of a special hip-looking blue bottle.
But after their first course things will start getting interesting. They just can’t stand to dwell with the mere peasants anymore and will order something from their favorite chef which nobody else even knows exist. Perhaps a large fried fish head with the eyeballs raised up on toothpicks. And it only gets more bizarre from there. The last extreme sushi knucklehead I encountered had lobster heads which were still moving their tentacles placed on the bar next to him and his date’s plates while eating I-don’t-even-want-to-know-what.
One thing I never understood at sushi bars are the quail eggs. Why in the world would you want to eat a little raw quail egg? In my youth I tried a couple specialty items which included them and I’m here to tell you that they contribute nothing enjoyable to the dish. They are just there so you can be hardcore, and they really are not all that safe. All risk, no reward. If you are into Uni (sea urchin) it is much better served plain (no quail egg) and dipped in the wasabi/soy sauce.
In fact that’s really what eating sushi is all about. It’s that soy sauce and wasabi (which is really just a green horseradish) flavor. You just need a good substance to flavor it with, and cooked white rice plus some fresh raw fish happens to be the perfect texture for it. A good sushi experience simply means the fish was a good cut and extremely fresh. You aren’t going to improve upon that by ordering weird stuff or exotic looking rolls. It’s fine to tell the chef to make you something special; in fact some of the most enjoyable dishes are discovered that way. Just let him know you aren’t into anything too weird.
Papa Riah
Technorati Tags: Culture, sushi
What started out being mildly funny has now become embarrassingly stale. Do you still laugh at those cave man auto insurance commercials? Of course not. It’s played. They should really retire that whole concept before it turns into something ugly that does damage to the company image. That is, if you can even name the company who runs those ads. Can you? Yeah, most of you probably can, despite the fact that these commercials have absolutely nothing to do with selling auto insurance.