TXT Message Links STDs to Geico Insurance
Adrants reader Heather Dougherty received an odd text message today on her phone that may have been part of the currently running, very strange Geico advertising campaign. The message read, "Call me ASAP! I just found out someone u used to mess with has an std. But don't stress - I just saved a ton of money by switching to GEICO. Keep this going!"
Whether or not this is a sanctioned viral SMS campaign is unclear. We've contacted Geico seeking confirmation. While spoofs like this happen all the time, we have a hard time believing the average person would actually create a TXT message like this just to send to their friend. It has advertising copy written all over it. On the other hand, does anyone really want unsolicited TXT message of any kind delivered to their phones? We're not sure we do. What about you?
Comments
Oh yeah, this is real funny. Telemarketers used to do this to me at my business all the time. If I didn't buy their pencils or copy paper, they would call back as Dr. Bob Law and say my HIV test was positive.
Real clever.
I sure hope Geico is no way involved and distances themselves from this quickly.
I don't know how to feel about this. On the one hand I can see it annoying the living hell out of me, but on the other hand I adore it because I'm a big Geico fan. I imagine it's not official, though if I were them I simply wouldn't say anything about it.
My all-time favourite commercial of theirs was the Old Navy "Let's Get Campy!" spoof and the one where the anime character is about to die and his partner announces she's just saved a lot of money on car insurance.
*hugs the Gecko*
I received this text in college a few years back. I wouldn't underestimate the wit of a few buzzed college students/friends with a phone in hand.
My only reason for questioning it is that the ability to access people's cell phones; IMs; emails and SMS messages makes sending someone a message suggesting they may have contracted an STD could be a problem for them in a way one never imagined. Ya know?
It seems to me that all this new media shit, viral bollocks etc just seems to encourage stupid thinking. It's bad enough that most traditional advertising... TV, print etc has no ideas anymore, it's all about excution, what the fuck can we CGI and spend a fucking fortune on. Look at "EatLikeSnake." CP+B should be ashamed of themselves. What's next "Subservient Snake?" As George Orwell put it... "Advertising is the rattle of a stick in a swill pail!" Now he stick is tiny and the pail is fucking huge.
Cheers/George
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