As a professional speaker, as well as coach, I use viral video and commercials. I was appalled by a viral video from Geico car insurance, a subsiduary of Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway, this morning. At first, it seems to be the kind of easy satire of the type that Letterman and Leno like to go with: an Osama Bin Laden lookalike promising “Death to America” while also claiming he saved “a whole bunch of money by switching to Geico” with a deprecating wink…

Ok, nothing really to laugh about, but offensive? After so many examples of this particular genre most would file it under D for Dull.

So why am I so worked up? Well, the agency who made this for Geico used a CNN ticker frame, and put in the feed the headline “5 marines killed in ambush outside Kabul” — which is really NOT, and I mean NOT, acceptable. Some controversy is good; even bad publicity; but expecting the US public to buy insurance when the Marine Corp and their men and women are misused might just be a PR disaster.

It certainly honors no-one, or I am out of step here?

Is the headline a real one? No, thank God. As far as a quick Google News search shows. If I am wrong then Geico is in real trouble. However, given the recent helicopter crash of May 6th the fact that no-one thought to scrap it makes the timing horrid. So, if not real, someone thought this up as a device. Great. I, for one, do not accept any claim that it was meant to add realism, or establish mood, or that it was meant to only mildly offend, or to remind of us the reality of the situation, of who knows what, is not a plausible excuse for a major INSURANCE company: what is your definition of acceptable risk?

Tony Nicely, CEO, and a lifetime career builder at Geico is on record saying after Geico lost 25% of their customer base in the 1970s through financial mismanagement that reputation and ethical behaviour are paramount. Geico has down a fantastic job at rebranding; the gekko logo is instantly recogniseable. This viral video is, in my mind, a huge error: if a large syndicated newsfeed picks it up then there could be reprocussions from middle America switching to MidAmerica.

Questions:
Who approved this, and then didn’t scream at the agency on the first viewing?
Who thought such bad taste to the memory in the news ticker would add realism?
Are 13-14yr olds the target for insurance buyers?
Who is out of step here?

The video was found at The Spec Spot.com

I have emailed Berkshire Hathaway and await a reply…