For some unfathomable reason, insurance companies worldwide seem to be under the impression that their best possible spokesperson is Skeletor, the villain from the 1980’s Masters of the Universe cartoons who faced off against He Man.
I can only surmise that market research told them that their target demographic had fond memories of the cartoon, and would pay extra attention to any televised ads featuring the character. I know that a generation grew up watching what was, for the most part, a really terrible cartoon. I also know that the character has camp value as a frequently-parodied subject on Robot Chicken.
What I can’t quite figure out is how they make the leap from “Remember that really goofy character from that crappy old cartoon?” to “I’ll bet people will rush out to buy insurance from us if we put him in a commercial.”
I can offer up the fact that I was so impressed by this worldwide non-sequitor that I’m writing about it here in PopCult, so there must be something to it. Above you see the Geico ad featuring Skeletor that’s currently running on US television. Below you’ll find a remarkable clip that contains two currently-running live-action commercials plus a “making of” featurette for Money Supermarket, an insurance company in Great Britain who also does business in a few European markets. These will show you Skeletor and He Man in a whole new light.
To be fair, these commercials have way higher production values and are far more entertaining that the cartoon ever was. Go figure.
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