Lame Lacertilian Linguistics
Category: Advertising...
Posted Wednesday, January 11, 2006 at 08:31 AM [GMT-6]

Say, am I alone in thinking that giving the Geico Gecko a voice is a bad idea?

Just because the AFLAC Duck has garnered worldwide notoriety with his vocalizations doesn't mean that the Gecko is deficient by comparison. After all, he's got nothing left to prove. And although geckos are the only lizards which, in life outside of television, actually have "voices," do we really need that kind of realism in our advertising?

And, pray tell, why the British accent? (Is it Cockney? It's been too long since I watched My Fair Lady.) Geico's an American company, and I'm wondering if the UK even has geckos.

It's all very confusing and not a little disturbing, akin to the metaphorical mustache on the Mona Lisa.

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Comments

Hmm. I thought it sounded somewhat Australian. But the one commercial where he's talking to other lizards. I don't get that. The punchline is lame.

Posted by: bryan at January 11, 2006 09:25 AM

At first I too thought it was Aussie, but if it is, it's the worst in history. The newest commercial seems to my untrained ear to be more British in sound.

Posted by: Eric at January 11, 2006 09:35 AM

It's still reptilian to me and reptiles should not talk. It's just bad policy. ;-)

Posted by: Gwynne at January 11, 2006 12:02 PM

...reptiles should not talk.

An observation the accuracy of which was pretty well confirmed way back in Genesis 3. ;-)

Posted by: Eric at January 11, 2006 12:28 PM

LOL :-) Excellent point!

Posted by: Gwynne at January 11, 2006 12:40 PM

Eric - Put down the remote and step away from the TV.....

Find something more productive to do like writing posts about your favorite fonts.

Posted by: shannon at January 11, 2006 04:08 PM

Shannon, this is important! If I don't do it, who will?!

Posted by: Eric at January 11, 2006 04:20 PM

I'm actually going to have to turn my tv on and watch for that ad.

Neither the speaking nor non-speaking Gecko can hold a candle to the AFLAC duck. But hey, that's just me.

Posted by: Jim at January 11, 2006 07:00 PM

They actually had him with a more respectable British accent on the first few commercials when the current campaign started. The new ones do sound like he's auditioning for the reptilian remake of "Crockodile Dundee" (personally, I think it would be a kick to give him the voice of GEICO owner Warren Buffet, but the ad agency probably wants to keep the account for a while longer...)

Posted by: John at January 11, 2006 10:21 PM

Yep the accent is British cockney. By saying it was Australian, you have successfully offended to nations at once. Aussie and Brit accents a extremely different. It would be like saying someone from Texas has the same accent as someone from Germany speaking German!
No wait ... they are the same right? ;)
Oh and it would be World War 3 if someone had mentioned the accent to be "French"
By the way .. the serpent has no legs, I counted 4 on the gecko. So what, that puts him at least one step above the devil right?


Posted by: Martha at January 16, 2006 02:02 PM
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