American car insurance commercials are a fascinating phenomenon. For some reason, Geico thinks that a talking, jet ski-riding pig and men with ukuleles telling terrible jokes will make people purchase its insurance, while Progressive is under the impression that people out there actually like Flo and don’t find her magnificently annoying. And then there’s the General, with his penguin and terrible man-on-the-street interviews. If Morgan Spurlock directed a documentary investigating the terrible world of car insurance commercials, I’d be the first person in line on its release date.
But maybe we wouldn’t be so cynical and sometimes full of rage (seriously, have you seen the Geico ad writers patting themselves on their backs in their own Writer’s Room videos?) if our car insurance companies made ads a little more like Anadolu Sigorta. The Turkish company recently released this Street Fighter-themed ad and it’s just spectacular.
My only complaint would be that it doesn’t feature Dhalsim crouching in the corner, just popping his arms at the other characters when they approach. That’s the cheap way I used to kick my friends’ asses all the time. Then they moved on to the Mortal Kombat series and the joke was on me.
