Cavemen and Chimpanzees
In those Geico commercials with the theme “So easy a caveman can do it,” the cavemen are insulted. That’s actually a neat way of getting across the message that it’s easy without letting people dwell on the underlying message which is, you don’t have to be very smart to do this.
Kansas City International Airport (MCI) has made a funny commercial that misses that point. A 60-second spot shows adorable Kenzie the chimp using the KCI (as they call themselves) Web site to plan a trip, parking at the airport, and checking in. So easy a monkey can do it.
But I’m not sure people want to be compared to monkeys. I remember the stories about the first astronauts, who were folded into the same capsule design that chimps had used; they rebelled, asking for windows and controls, because they wanted it acknowledged that they were smarter than chimps.
Anyway, the commercial is cute, and it’s only scheduled to be shown on the KCI website and on CNN’s airport channel. But real people find airports a hassle. Monkeys just don’t know better.
–Mary Hunt, editor, eFlyer
January 12th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
I don’t know Mary. In South Africa I’ve met some amazingly intellegent baboons. They are so smart it is scary!