[[quoteright:332:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cheapas_6162.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:332:We didn't put up this image just so you could get ''cheap car insurance''!]]

-->"[[MemeticMutation Simples!]]"

''[[http://www.comparethemeerkat.com/home Compare The Meerkat.Com]]'' is a series of adverts and a website designed as nothing more than ViralMarketing for an insurance website (comparethemarket.com). The adverts all take a similar format, Alexandr Orlov the Meerkat will remind viewers that his website is for comparing meerkats, and not for comparing markets and urge viewers to check they have the correct URL. Then deliver his {{catchphrase}}. For some reason they achieved massive popularity.

[[LargeHam Simples]].


!!This series provides examples of:
* BadBoss: '''Aleksandr'''. Poor, poor Sergei.
** However, Aleksandr ''does'' come to visit him in hospital in one advert. Granted, it's only to tell him he's 4 days late for work, but considering he actually bothered to go - and even brought flowers - it's actually kinda sweet.
* BerserkButton: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DGaFEWky0w You want MARKET!!!!!]]
* BeleagueredBureaucrat: Sergei
* CatchPhrase: "Simples!"
* ChargeIntoCombatCut: During "Battle Of Fearlessness"
* {{Defictionalization}}: Aleksander has now written an autobiography. HilarityEnsues in [[BlindIdiotTranslation fantastically funny broken English]].
** It sold more copies than TonyBlair's autobiography.
* ExplosiveInstrumentation: The new IT department computer
* FantasticRacism: Confusing Meerkats with Mongooses
-->'''Q''': ''Isn't a meerkat a type of mongoose?''
-->'''A''': ''NO! This great insult! Mongoose not good enough to lick dropping from my shoe! I am meerkat and I live in mansion filthy mongoose could only dream about in wildest dreams.''
** "The Battle Of Fearlessness" is about how his great-grandfather led the meerkats to victory over Mongis Khan's hordes (and get wounded in the process, receiving a purple claw)
** On the welcome sign of the town Meerkovo it says "mongooses not welcome".
** Aleksandr is also pretty contemptuous about muskrats when talking about his father's sideline, Compare the Muskrat.
** The twist is, of course, that meerkats *are* a kind of mongoose.
* {{Flashback}}: The trilogy about Alexandr's family. "Journey Of Courageousness", "Battle of Fearlessness" and "Streets of Ambitiousness".
* FunnyAnimal
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: During the introduction of "The Battle Of Fearlessness" there are two meerkats having a sandball fight.
** In the installment where Sergei runs away to join the circus, at one point he's ''just about'' to throw one of the meerkat toys at Aleksandr's head when he turns around.
* {{Jerkass}}: Alexandr can be this at times, more so in the book.
* {{Lzherusskie}}: Alexandr and Sergei
* MorePopularSpinOff: Compare the Meerkat is far more recognised than the website it promotes.
* {{Nerd}}: Sergei
* NoSenseOfDirection: Postkat, Meerkova's only postal official. He wanders across Europe with cuddly meerkats destined for the UK. The video clip that starts his journey even has Alexandr hissing to him "UK is ''that'' way!", when he wanders off.
** How Aleksandr's ancestors ended up in Russia after leaving the Kalahari Desert.
--> "''Russia?!''"
* [[OnlyAFleshWound Only A Fur Wound]]: During "Battle Of Fearlessness", Alexandr's great-grandfather is wounded and Sergei's great-grandfather holds him and screams to the sky. Alexandr's great-grandfather sits up and says:
--> "Quiet down! It's just a fur wound."
* PietaPlagiarism: After it looks like Alexandr's great-grandpappy died in battle.
* {{Pluralses}}
* ProductPlacement: The whole raison d'etre of the series
* PurelyAestheticGlasses: Worn by Sergei
* RealTrailerFakeMovie: The three adverts where Alexandr talks about his family's history are also trailers and film merchandise can be bought. None of the films exist.
* TheRedStapler: Meerkat-related, well, ''anything'' has become popular in the UK as a result of these adverts. Especially anthropomorphised meerkats.
* {{Retcon}}: Of a sort. After years of trying to get car insurance customers off his website and out of his life, Alekandr releases a new advert which... offers a free meerkat toy to anyone buying from comparethemarket.com. There's no set-up and no explanation; he's just suddenly working with his greatest adversary.
** Makes perfect sense in real life, of course. As comparethemarket.com watches their entire marketbase choose meerkat pictures over their fairly lousy quote comparison site, they pretty much had to take this route to drag them back again.
*** Didn't Sergei say it was thanks for going to the right website?
* RetiredBadass: Sergei.
* [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter Ridiculously Cute Meerkats]]
* SeldomSeenSpecies: Seriously, how often did you see meerkats before this?
* ShownTheirWork: Alexandr's ancestors came from the Kalahari desert, which is one of the areas meerkats naturally live in.
** That part of the ad campaign probably came about when they realized the FridgeLogic of a meercat with a [[MisplacedAccent Russian accent.]]
* SimilarSquad: Recent adverts have revealed that Comparethemarket.com is run by a burgandy-dressing-gown-wearing loon called Maurice and his put-upon sidekick Spencer.
* SkywardScream: Sergei's great-grandfather screams when he believes Alexandr's great-grandfather has been killed in battle.
* SovietSuperscience: Sergei is a former Cosmonaut, one of the first meerkats to walk on the Moon, was head of the Soviet Space Program during the 80's and even designed the [[PunnyName Mir(kat)]] space-station.
* TastesLikePurple: The tie-in book mentions that Sergei was fired from the Russian space programme, but still has a mug with a picture of the Mir space station on it. "That is why his tea tastes of sadness".
* TemptingFate: During the "Journey Of Courageousness" advert.
--> "Ours is a simples lives, what could possibles go wrong?" '''cut to sand storm'''
* ThinkOfTheChildren: One advert implores you to go to "compare the market.com" because all the extra traffic is crashing the meerkat's elementary school's server.
* UnclePennyBags: Alexandr is presented as an example of this trope
* ViralMarketing
* WhatWereTheySellingAgain: The advertisements are far more recognisable than the website they advertise.
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