Thick, buttery … insurance?
If you’re a has-been celebrity looking for work - and what has-been celebrity isn’t looking for work, by definition - the good news is that there are other job prospects out there besides lame reality television shows. There’s also Geico.
The insurance company has for some time now been employing the likes of Little Richard, Joan Rivers and even Charo to “interpret” real people’s stories of how well Geico dealt with their insurance claims.
Maybe the well of real D-list celebrities is running dry, because now the company is turning to … a syrup bottle.
In a new commercial, Mrs. Butterworth editorializes as a Geico customer recounts her tale of woe - or, actually, her tale of getting a nick in her windshield repaired. It’s not very compelling stuff, but Mrs. Butterworth makes the best of it, intoning, “Oh, dear, broken glass sends shivers down my bottle!
Mrs. Butterworth isn’t as funny as Little Richard or as annoying as Joan Rivers , and she likely won’t be as provocative as Charo, whose ad got the company in hot water when the Connecticut attorney general charged that it could have left the false impression that the insurance company can fix cars directly.
Still, the talking syrup bottle gets points for nostalgia. But what’s funny about the ad – and all the others in the celebrity spokesperson series – is that the “real” customers all but completely ignore their celebrities’ wacko antics.
Also, whereas Little Richard et al appeared comfortable sticking to the insurance pitch, Mrs. Butterworth can’t resist the opportunity to hawk herself.
“It was a piece of cake. Or maybe more like hot pancakes,” she says of the claim process.
And when all is said and done, she declares, “Now I feel rich. Thick and buttery, too.”
Not surprisingly, the Geico ad comes as The Blackstone Group, which purchased Mrs. Butterworth’s and other brands last year, is working to revive the syrup brand with an ad of its own that offers a trip down memory lane.
It’s interesting to see a montage of cute kids through the decades, but when it comes to pancakes, we’re still sticking with real maple syrup.
Click here to watch’s Geico’s ad.
