Geico has a history of creating and running multiple campaigns at once. A large number of these campaigns are memorable such as the Geico Gecko, known originally for people mistaking his name, a name standing in a room asking rhetorical questions, irrelevant statements followed by “I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to Geico.” People remember these because they are humorous, and usually, lighthearted. They are so cheerful and funny Al Gore made a political move that shocked people by choosing the agency that created many of Geico’s ads as his own. However, despite the success of their multiple campaigns one of their campaigns has caused some controversy. The Geico Cavemen ad campaign was designed to poke fun at a lack of political correctness. This campaign has backfired on Geico leading to a controversy they did not expect. In their attempt to mock being “politically incorrect” they misguidedly did not take into account the viewers who do not approve of the term and its ideas. The Geico Cavemen have been the laughed at group in Geico’s campaigns. They were so popular they were given a television pilot with ABC with the hopes of becoming a full-fledged series. Sadly, those hopes were dashed, but perhaps it was for the best. Geico seems to have broken a few of Jay Heinrichs’ virtues of style when it comes to arguing, the most obvious being decorum. Geico has inadvertently offended a demographic of potential customers by not realizing making fun of something a group people do not agree with can still upset that group of people.
To some people the idea of something being politically incorrect means it is socially unacceptable. However, according to Bill Lind the term “political correctness” is nothing more than a sugarcoated way of saying cultural Marxism. He explains, “Cultural Marxism, or Political Correctness, says that all history is determined by power, by which groups defined in terms of race, sex, etc., have power over which other groups. Nothing else matters. All literature, indeed, is about that. Everything in the past is about that one thing.”
Geico may have meant no offense when creating a campaign designed around “political correctness,” they may have been planning to cause the viewer to laugh then visit their website. However, looking at this campaign through the lens of Jay Heinrichs virtues of style Geico seemed to be asking for trouble with this campaign.
The first virtue Heinrichs mentions was “proper language.” Geico used the slogan “It’s so easy a caveman could do it.” This slogan therefore implied simplicity for the user, but in the commercials they set the cavemen off into a rage. The message here was even the simplest minded and primitive person could use their technology. Their use of language caused no problem, however, in the advertisements the reaction to the language caused problems.
Heinrichs’ second virtue is clarity. Geico believed it was being clear in their message that applying for any of their insurance programs is simple. This idea came across with perfect clarity; however, to some people another message was clear. This message was that they do not respect they believe that labels do not make the person. People may wish to be called one thing and it is not right for Geico to make the assumption that because some people of a particular group feel one way it is the belief of everyone in the group.
Heinrichs’ fourth virtue is decorum, which we have previously discussed. The fifth virtue is ornament. This is “the rhythm of your voice and the cleverness of your words.” To the casual observer this ad could be considered clever, it is a witty manner in which to look at a social group which we consider to be extinct. Conversely, people who consider these advertisements would say, the social group that is being mocked may not be as extinct as we are initially being led to believe. The cavemen only appear to be men with extreme outbursts of rage. This is not a group of people who are no longer around today. There are people today who have uncontrollable rage, this group of people could fall into the category of caveman very easily.
On a surface level Geico’s auto commercials are harmless, but has people often say, you need to dig deeper. Simply scratching the surface of this material will not allow for any sort of personal growth. Whether you agree with the idea that Geico was wrong to create such an offensive campaign, or do not see any problem with this idea for a campaign our society cannot continue to grow if we do not take the time to examine what is presented to us.
Geico’s ad campaign featuring cavemen was offensive to some viewers. This, more than likely, was unintentional. No major insurance company would risk alienating a group of people and their ideas of what is socially acceptable to say and poke fun at; however, Geico did. They began this campaign with the hopes of having viewers watch, laugh, and visit their website. This controversy may seem insignificant to people who are not aware of it, though is it fair to dismiss an issue simply because it does not affect your beliefs? Would the issue feel more personal if the term were changed from “political correctness” to “cultural Marxism?” Not many people today would want to be called a Marxist in any form; on the other hand, some people may wish to be called Marxists. To make an assumption in regards to people’s political affiliations is no more acceptable than Geico assuming that making fun of people for their desire to be called one term or another should be socially acceptable.
