Katie Gross

October 13, 2013

HUMPP DAYY, YAYYY

What do you think when you hear the phrase, Happier than a camel on hump day? You
probably immediately think of two guys playing a guitar and ukulele, perhaps a gecko, the
statistic fifteen percent, car insurance, and the familiar white screen with blue capital letters that
remind the audience of the highly appreciated Geico car insurance brand. If not appreciated for
their coverage, then more for the laugh that brightens a dull day, the relief of an entertaining
commercial in a long segments of dull ones, or the enjoyment during the Super Bowl, when the
all-star team of commercial advertisements are aired all at once, regardless of the reasons, its no
debate that this company provides society with many amusing clips that set them apart from
other car insurance companies. Specifically analyzing the Camel on Hump day Geico
commercial, there are many rhetorical devices and strategies used that perhaps the audience is
unaware they are submitted to, with the distraction of the humor clouding his or her view. Geico
advertisers initially pull the viewer in using the relatable and the curious through characters,
setting and social context, simultaneously utilizing pathos, specifically joy stemming from
humor, to hold his or her attention, eventually providing gratification from the style that most
everyone immediately recalls as a production of the Geico brand.
Geico is notorious for their use of characters; sometimes these characters are pre-
established, such as the Pillsbury Doughboy, Dracula, Abraham Lincoln (Honest Abe), Eddie
Money, the little piggy who cried weeeee,all the way home, and the famous mascot, the
Geico Gecko. Sometimes these characters are not well known, but have a most impressive power
of connecting to the audience in the beginning seconds of the ad; for instance, a body builder
directing traffic, a not-so-wise owl, a caveman, or the characters from the hump day commercial,
the Camel, Julie, Mike, and Leslie. These characters sound like average names, and it is unlikely
that the viewer remembers the names of Julie, Mike and Leslie, because they are part of an
establishment of the familiar, the ordinary and subsequently the relatable. The names themselves
are ordinary, as well as the people and the setting. This commercial takes place in an office and
there is no specification of what the job is because the advertisers are strategically attempting to
emphasize the ordinary so that more audience members can relate to the ad as a whole. The
camel, however, is not ordinary at all; he is random and intriguing, as well as humorous. The
commercial uses the camel walking through the office shouting, guess what day it is? at the
workers in their cubicles to pull the viewer in because he or she is curious of the purpose of the
camels presence. The fact is, however, that the purpose is to pull the viewer in and to establish a
connection to help ensure that the viewer remembers the commercial. By the end of the clip, the
viewers curiosities are satisfied with ironic humor after the two men playing guitar reveal the
punch line: the camel in the office is happy because it is hump day and he indeed possesses
two humps. The social context of this joke is equally as important because the average worker in
a modern society is familiar with this setting in some form or another, likely having experienced
it firsthand. Social context also comes in to play with the commonplace of hump day. Fifty
years or so ago, the general audience would not appreciate this joke, because they would not see
the irony, because referring to Wednesday as hump day was not a common understanding in
this time; no social context, therefore no irony or understanding, meaning no satisfaction of the
strange randomness, no emotional impact, resulting in the consumer not appreciating the ad
which represents the company.
After the viewer is pulled in by curiosity, and gratified by the comprehension of the
punch line, he or she experiences an enjoyable emotion that cracks a smile or provokes laughter
and appreciation for the pleasure they experienced. Pathos, and the many emotions that fall into
this strategy all yield a general result of increased likelihood that the viewer will remember what
stirred this emotion in them. In the case of this commercial, the audiences memory was strong
enough to cause individuals to go on to his or her computer and search the commercial on
YouTube. In fact, this ad specifically has been viewed over sixteen million times (YouTube).
According to Paul Davis thesis, Fifteen Percent or More: A Content Analysis of Geicos
Commercial Advertising, this is even more than the combined total number of views of sixty
popular Geico commercials that aired from 2009 to 2013 with a total number of over eleven
million views (Davis-6). Is the use of humor truly effective in persuading the audience to switch
to Geico car insurance? Geico is the third largest auto insurance company in the country, and
since the companys advertisers began using humor as means of attracting customers, their
budget increased from ten million dollars in 1995 to 270 million dollars in 2000 (Davis-14, 15).
Additionally, from 1996 to 2012, the average annual increase in revenue was 853 million dollars
per year, however, in the last four years of this period, when commercials of this kind began, the
average annual increase in revenue was a little over one billion dollars per year (Davis-102). The
use of humor evokes feelings inside the viewer through pathos; these feelings help with memory,
which is certainly a benefit for the Geico company. The more well-known and connected to the
company that the consumer feels, the more likely he or she may be to trust the company, for
example, with finances, should he or she get into a car accident.
The final aspect of the commercial that further proves the benefits of this commercial is
the style. The style in particular is the foundation to all of these other aspects. After a long-
standing familiarity with the Geico commercials, the consumer can recognize Geico
advertisements because of the previous commercials that they have seen combining to form a
commonplace of Geicos style in the viewers mind. As soon as the observer sees the Geico
Gecko, or the two men playing guitar and ukulele, or the caveman or Mike McGlone in a suit
asking, sarcastically Can switching to Geico really save you fifteen percent or more on car
insurance? he or she immediately realizes it is a commercial for Geico. The slogan itself,
Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance, has become such a
widely known phrase that in some commercials they change the line to Fifteen minutes could
save youwell you know or, Hmm, fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more
on car insurance with another character replying, Yep, everybody knows that. The slogan is
repeated so many times that it provides yet another device that ensures consumers remember
Geico, and anything that sets apart the Geico company from any other car insurance company, is
working in favor of attracting more customers.
Geico has an excellent reputation for customer satisfaction and covers fifteen million
vehicles all over the country (Kim). In the hump day commercial, advertisers first employ
characters and setting to express a sense of the familiar, then they introduce another character
that inserts a sense of randomness, and the viewers curiosity is peaked, causing he or she to pay
attention. The watcher is finally satisfied at having justification for the strangeness and
simultaneous joy at the humor that Geico gives through pathos. Of course, the consumer only
gets this satisfaction if his or her level of comprehension matches the social context and the
commonplace slang of the term hump day. All of this goes on in a certain style that Geico
developed over the years that brought them much reward and therefore proves the success
pattern of marketing a company in this manner. Geico advertisements often have nothing to do
with the product and are purely meant to entertain the audience by offering them happiness
laughter, while hopefully at the same time drilling into memory the many slogans, mascots and
themes that remind a person of the Geico brand.






































Citations
1. "GEICO Hump Day Camel Commercial - Happier than a Camel on Wednesday."
YouTube. YouTube, 22 May 2013. Web. 10 Oct. 2013.

2. Kim, Hannah. "Allstate vs. Geico vs. Progressive vs. State Farm: Which Is the Best
Insurance Company for You?" NerdWallet Insurance RSS. N.p., 2 July 2013. Web. 10
Oct. 2013.

3. Davis, Paul R. Fifteen Percent or More: A Content Analysis of Geicos Commercial
Advertising. Thesis. Liberty University: School of Communication Studies, 2013. N.p.:
n.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2013.
<http://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1262&context=masters>.