Saturday, November 6, 2010

I'd switch, but I hate that stupid lizard even more



Full Disclosure: State Farm is my insurance company, and I've never had any serious complaints about their service. Whenever I have invested fifteen minutes to check out Geico I've been offered very uncompetitive deals and passed. My premiums are very reasonable, and when I got hit by an uninsured drunk driver some years back, State Farm took care of me.

All that being sad, this is a disgustingly clueless, insulting pile of steaming crud disguised as an ad for renter's insurance. First, when a baseball comes through the window of this guy's apartment his first thought isn't to quickly look outside to see who did it- you know, like any normal, functioning human being would. He doesn't even make the first effort to clean up the broken glass. No, it's all about contacting State Farm, and quickly.

Time out. We know this is an apartment in a rather substantial building, because "the girl from 4G" is about to be summoned (more about this later.) Would this guy's insurance company really be responsible for replacing the broken pane of glass? Even if the apartment management office didn't automatically take responsibility, how freaking low is this guy's deductible, that he's thinking State Farm is going to pay for this damage?

Ok, back to the commercial, because here's where it gets really really bad..

One of the renter's friends tries out the jingle by asking for a sandwich, which magically appears. Inspired, the renter requests that "the girl from 4G" is whisked away from her private surroundings to decorate his hovel. She appears, and seems not the least bit concerned that she's now apparently at the mercy of this doofus and his equally weird and worthless friends. Then, in what is (not surprisingly) a Howl Out Loud LOL moment to the knuckle-dragging glue-sniffers over at YouTube, one guy yells "And can I get me a Hot Tub?!" Of course, that magically appears too (creating more damage for the State Farm Agent to deal with.)

Assuming that this guy hasn't been harboring fantasies of getting his male friends into a hot tub, I think it's safe to infer that the tub is part of the "girl from 4G" plot point. Nice for her- not only is she transported against her will to an apartment full of half-witted, power-crazed jackasses who don't know what her name is, but the guys she finds herself with are now taking it for granted that she'll happily strip and climb into a tub with them. Not a lot of respect for female customers over there at State Farm, is there?

I'm not going to dump State Farm over this ad, not only because I get the best deal from them but also because EVERY substantial insurance company seems to be spending a lot of their customer's premiums to produce mind-numbingly stupid commercials. But I am more than a little irritated that my money played even a small role in the creation of this junk.

3 comments:

  1. I like the Allstate "Mayhem" commercials. They are witty (it doesn't hurt that the actor who played Ryan O'Reilly on "Oz" plays Mayhem!).

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  2. I'm not surprised that other people think what I thought about that ad. It's incredibly creepy, and of course there are also undertones of rape. Not to sound all uber defensive feminist there, as there is no implication of rape, but there is the suggestion of objectification, and as you said because the girl from 4G shows up the tenants think she magically becomes their slave. The hot tub bit makes the viewer forget about the awkward/creepiness of the girl transportation and prevents extended dwelling on the matter for the knuckle draggers.

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  3. I agree; it's another example in the long and sordid history of television treating women like objects to be ogled and used for the amusement of males. The girl from 4G doesn't look at all annoyed at being transported to this strange place at the command of some witless guy- she seems almost pleased. Of course- because her job is to provide pleasure, after all, and she was rather unfulfilled by herself back at her own apartment. We've seen this a million times, which means we've seen it a million times too many.

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