So dumb: Nationwide Insurance Parrots

This commercial is just so awful - I don't even know where to begin. I guess the whole thing is supposed to be beyond funny, and ironic, and who knows what else. "The World's Greatest Spokesperson in the World!" is already off to a bad start. Casting a guy that looks like Clay Aiken, ten years from now, then make him behave like an idiot, what was the creative mastermind behind this story thinking?

Yes, the Aflac duck is funny. Yes, the Geico gekko is funny. But they are both fictional. We don't see them as the spokesperson of the company. They are branded mascots, setting one boring insurance business apart from the next boring competitor. Once you throw a real person in there, it changes the nature. This guy is a real person, too close in his nature and behavior to other real people. Is he the role model for all nationwide company representatives? If so, the intro line above only adds to his ridicule.

And WTF is going on with the parrots? This entire story is just so... dumb. I am really at a loss for words here. Compared to Nationwide's commercial, the Traveler's dog commercial reviewed in an earlier story deserves an Oscar.

Clay Aiken Sr. isn't really 100% in his role either. Sometimes, you have a character that plays his part so well, you wish they were real. But this guy is somewhat uncomfortable in his role. His performance falls about a mile short of creating an iconic character. Just watch the last three seconds, when the jingle kicks in, and he sits in his chair, forcing himself to be funny by shaking his head left and right, to appear in sync with the music. I just hope the media buy for these stupid thirty seconds ends soon...