This television commercial for State Farm Insurance has been airing for over a year now. (No, that doesn’t mean it’s a success.)
Why That Advertisement Is Stupid, Part One
For all the baby boomers who remember the hit television show for which that song was written, when this spot begins they don’t picture State Farm Insurance…or anything even remotely related to insurance.
They picture the set of Cheers.
Why That Advertisement Is Stupid, Part Two
This commercial makes a claim that viewers know isn’t true: State Farm is not a place “where everybody knows your name.”
For viewers who are unfamiliar with the TV show, no personal or emotional connection is made at all.
State Farm doesn’t offer a remedy to living in a “State of Anonymity.”
If your car is damaged in an accident…or your bicycle is stolen…or your apartment suffers water damage…
Do you want to find a place where everybody knows your name?
Or do you want your insurance company to cover the financial damages you’ve suffered?
Coming Up Next (probably): The title theme from The Mary Tyler Moore Show in a commercial for AAMCO Transmissions.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Tell ‘em!
I have never seen this commercial. Now that I have, I agree: It’s idiotic. The only thing missing is George Wendt walking into a State Farm office and everybody yelling, “NORM!”
I have to agree it is a bad commercial but I have never seen it until just now…. what market is that running in?
@Dan: The claim “where everybody knows your name” reminded me of this old bit of television commercial idiocy. I can’t recall exactly where I first heard about this (maybe you referenced it in a previous blog?) but at the time Stouffer’s was going with the slogan, “Who knows you better than Stouffer’s?” Really? Who knows me better than STOUFFER’S? Ugh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwK0ZzcK_uI
It isn’t just State Farm. The GEICO pig, the AFLAC duck, “Mr. Mayhem”…it seems buying insurance in this country is something that companies that sell it perceive to be less than a serious purchase.
I don’t have to see it really as it adds to the barrage of Insurance wars…
How many dollars are these spots costing?Plus production costs in this case include copy right costs?
And therefore that saves the target viewer how much?
Vikings? Pigs? I may remember just “Flow” not her company. And though I miss Mayhem.
What struck me the first time I saw this is that “Cheers” was basically a show about a group of lovable losers who liked to over-imbibe. I thought, what a perfect theme for . . . a company that insures DRIVERS!!