We cringe every time we watch the new Geico commercial where a guy chooses to save money on a weight loss program by hiring a group of three popular middle school girls to follow him. Whenever he stops to eat, they chime in with a judgmental tone: “Ew.” “Really?!” “So gross.”
This ad has so many troubling elements that it’s hard to know where to begin. Besides the fact that the girls are shaming the guy for eating, they’re essentially pressuring him to fit their idea of what’s acceptable. Promoting the mean girls stereotype sends a harmful message to the broad audience that will view the ad, which first aired around a month ago. They not only pick on the man for his choices in person, but at one point, one of the girls snaps a picture of him eating fast food, clearly intending to share it online and partake in some cyberbullying. Many youth-focused companies and organizations have worked hard to teach tweens, teens, and even older Millennials that any form of bullying is wrong, yet this ad implies that it’s not just acceptable but also somehow beneficial.
Then there’s the depiction of the girls themselves. They’re “Plastics,” to borrow a term from the movie “Mean Girls,” expressionless and unfeeling, repeating the same few words over and over. And they’re depicted as what to emulate in the ad.
While the ad is aimed at adults, teens and tweens are hardly immune to its messages, which not only suggest that you can save money on car insurance, but that it’s okay to bully others. We wish that this edition of Geico’s “Easier Way To Save” series of ads would be retired — the others are funnier and less harmful.