Trivia / GEICO

• Breakaway Advertisement: The Cavemen, who were popular enough to land a forgettable TV show on ABC.
• Colbert Bump: Ratt's "Round and Round" made the charts again in 2020 after their appearance in a GEICO spot. Similarly, "Build Me Up Buttercup" by The Foundations has gained a second life via the GEICO motorcycle commercials.
• Defictionalization: One GEICO ad asked if people use smartphones to do dumb things. One of the guys in the ad is using an app called the Brostache. The Brostache is now a real app.
• Follow the Leader: Two other insurance companies have also adopted the approach of saturation advertising based on wacky humor, with a number of rotating campaigns. Progressive has the commercials with Flo and her co-workers, and a few other unrelated arcs, while Liberty Mutual has the spots with people spouting fake testimonials with the Statue of Liberty in the background, and also their own oddball animal mascot, LiMu Emu, who co-stars in a series of Buddy Cop Show adventures with his human partner Doug.
• The Other Darrin: The gecko was originally voiced by Kelsey Grammer (he's the one who complains about his name being confused with GEICO), then Dave Kelly, and finally by Jake Wood.
  • The singing voice of the gecko as heard in this commercial is Richard Steven Horvitz rather than any of the usual actors.
• Serendipity Writes the Plot: The Gecko came to exist because of a Screen Actors Guild strike in 1999 that prevented the use of live-action actors.

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