Erin Servey

English 137H

Kyle King

September 27, 2013

Rhetoric Analysis Rough Draft (To be Titled)

“Guess what day it is?” starts the commercial we have all come to know and quote: the GEICO “hump day” ad featuring an enthusiastic talking camel.  Now, many people may believe this is one of the most effective commercials currently out there. But, though this ad remains wildly memorable, humorous and relevant, it lacks appeal in many other areas as well, such as facts, credibility and actually associating the commercial with the company more noticably.

We all live in a world where saving money is very important to us, seeing the state of our economy.  This fact on top of society’s current norm and definition of “hump day” adds humors and Kairos to the ad.  It is a widely accepted idea: “hump day”.    Generally referring to Wednesday—a day occurring at the middle, or “hump” of the week—Hump day can be and is associated with the sexual slang version of the word.  Since majority of society has this notion, the fact that the commercial uses a camel, makes a joke out if it using a unique, laughable perspective on the phrase—many people would not think to associate camels with hump day. The humor of a happy animal appeals to our emotions as well and at the end of the commercial, where it talks about saving money, makes for well times Kairos as well since, like stated earlier, the state of our economy isn’t the greatest and now, compared to previous decades, people are becoming more and more thrifty as a means to conserve their wealth.  Had this ad been used in a more prosperous time for our country, it would not be as effective.

Another thing about the commercial, it’s so catchy: people quote it all the time now; it’s rare to find someone who hasn’t see or at least heard of the commercial.  But, that’s just it, many people—such as myself—spend time quoting its catchy phrase when we don’t even remember what company or purpose the commercial was for.  This means GEICO—whose name is only mentioned briefly at the end—spent too much time making us laugh and not enough time engraining the company name into our heads, like many consumer jingles do.  Many of us familiar with GEICO also know them based on the talking gecko or caveman, so without either of those, we forget that the purpose of the comical camel is to endorse GEICO.  As well, at the end of the commercial, though they state, “15 minutes or less you save you 15% or more on car insurance” there are no facts to back it up, or any credibility, how do we know they—who produced a slightly juvenile commercial—know what they are talking about?

One rhetoric based positive outcome accomplished by the ad consists of supporting civic engagement.  When the camel walks into the work place, everyone depressingly works at their tedious job in their dull cubicles (this make the commercial more relatable to office workers). The commercial claims—not so directly—through demonstration of the camel’s happiness, we too came become as happy as a camel on hump day, if we use GEICO and save money.  The civic implication here is that by becoming happier (through saving money) the environment of our workplace will be enlivened.

GEICO’s ad, quoted frequently, may not be as rhetorically savvy as it first appears.  First of all people do not remember the company’s name or purpose, making it go against (I can assume) what GEICO initially intended, even though they have Kairos in the use of Hump Day.  Secondly though pathos is achieved through entertaining, and slightly ironic, humor, the commercial lacks strong credibility and facts to back up their source.