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Alivia Forshey, Audrey Leahy, Allie McNamara, Jacob Newell
Dr. Butler
ENG 124
18 October 2012
The Power of Commercials
Commercials are something that everyone tries to avoid because they interrupt television
shows and usually aren’t that exciting. They are usually targeting older audience members in
advertising medication, depends, laxatives, hover rounds, or buttons you can push when you’ve
“fallen and you can’t get up!” You may also need some depends from laughing so hard. Many
are actually interesting and attention grabbing, for example, the Allstate Mayhem Man
commercials. As irritating as some may be they can be good sometimes as well.
The Allstate Mayhem man has a series of comical commercials that convince people that
their insurance is the best. Insurance commercials are usually boring and not very fun to watch,
except for the mayhem man commercials. Each of these commercials in the series has something
different getting broken or ruined and it explains how Allstate has you covered. The mayhem
man explains in each commercial that “Nobody protects you from mayhem, better than Allstate”
By repeating this in each commercial, he really tries to convince people that Allstate is the best
and they will cover everything and that is something someone really tries to look for in an
insurance company.
An example of a mayhem man commercial is the commercial where he is sitting on a
roof and says “I’m a satellite dish and the only reason you got me is for football.” Football
interests everyone especially men and teenage boys. The mayhem man says “Today I’m a little
fuzzy, so you tried to fix me, but you just made me loose,” and then he falls off the roof and
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damages the car. This is targeting men and teenage boys. Teenage boys and their fathers are
usually the ones who watch football together, and when the satellite dish starts acting up, they try
to fix it, and they make mistakes, and BAM; their satellite dish is broken. Allstate lets them
know that they are there for them to cover it if it breaks. This is not just targeting older people
about insurance, but it is trying to convince teenagers that they should choose Allstate when it is
time to get insurance. By making these commercials so funny and memorable it sticks in peoples
minds and makes them want to watch these commercials every time they are on.
“I’m a hot babe out jogging, making sure this, stays a 10.” Now fellas, what comes to
mind whenever we hear these words? I’ll tell you what comes to my mind; a tall, long legged,
curvy blonde woman, just emitting sex appeal. But what Allstate does is the total opposite, they
show mayhem, a short manly looking man, in a pink headband jogging. Now Allstate has done
what so many companies have done before them. They’ve done what Pepsi, Coca Cola,
Victoria’s Secret (especially Victoria’s Secret) and many, many other companies have done
before them, brought in sex appeal to grab the attention of the audience. Yet Allstate has done it
differently than every one of those companies, they’ve created a new type of appeal.... humorous
sex appeal. If you think, most people would have turned the channel as soon as they saw a man
in pink jogging, but because of the humor to the sex appeal, it actually makes it quite captivating.
And it is during this moment of captivation that they deliver their punch line. Mayhem adds to
his earlier statement, and says "when you drive by, you’re checking out my awesome headband,
then when..." boom, the driver runs into a pole. Followed by mayhem saying "that's when you
find out, your cut-rate insurance, it ain’t paying for this. So get Allstate, save cash and get better
protected from mayhem, like me." And from this innovative new type of commercial, Allstate
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reached out to all the hormone ravaged teens, and the hormone deprived adults. Pretty genius if
you ask me!
What attracts us as teenagers? Allstate commercials, along with many insurance company
ads, aim at young people. People who haven’t established an insurance company or insurance of
any sort yet. Teenagers. Young adults. So why the mayhem commercials? Well teenagers usually
find getting hit by a car, falling off of a house, wrecking a car, causing an accident, natural
disasters ruining things and people being flat out dumb more funny than some adults would find
it. Many times teenagers and adults don’t think the same way. Young adults or teenagers don’t
know what is to come for them in the future and Allstate realizes that. This is why many things
that happen in commercials teenagers understand and adults don’t because the commercials are
directed more toward teenagers than adults.
Seeing a guy drive in a pink SUV and having a fit because Becky kissed Johnny isn’t an
everyday thing. Teenagers see this as humorous and goofy ways of advertising a serious product
such as insurance. The mayhem man stands for the Allstate commercial; however; every
commercial is different and pertains to different things. But, Allstate has many commercials that
can really attract anyone and everyone. This is only happening because Allstate attracts the mind
and makes the commercials very interesting.
Many advertisement commercials have many ways that it relates to teenagers. The man
talking has a very deep voice and no face is able to be seen; however; the voice sounds like a
father figure. As when your father is trying to tell you to do something he is there trying to tell
you what insurance will be best for you while driving. The reason for this is most of the mayhem
commercials are scenarios that aren’t very likely at all to happen, but still get people thinking
“Wow, that really could happen, and I would be covered.” This is a great marketing plan because
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it reaches out to everyone and gives people of any age a reason to say and think that maybe they
should look into Allstate more.
Can you think of something that grabs your attention almost instantly? I know I can!
Now think of this, if you see a grown man in a suit, filthy and acting like a wild animal, wouldn’t
that be more attention grabbing than seeing a man in just a regular suit? I sure think so! Allstate
does just this in their commercials, using different tactics in each one to grab and hold our
attention. They think of something unique each commercial to make sure and yank the attention
of the audience to the commercial being broadcasted.
Who doesn’t like to laugh right? I bet we can all think of a joke or circumstance that
made us crack up! Allstate uses humor to get to us all the time, in fact, basically all of their
commercials are based on humor and making people laugh. In Allstate’s Deer in Headlights
commercial, “Mayhem” begins by saying, “I’m a wild deer. And I’m out here eating leaves and
whatnot.” Since Mayhem is really a man, and he is talking in the terms of a deer, this gave me
the first reaction just to laugh! “Out here eating leaves and whatnot” was a major line where the
way he says it is just funny. Next, “Mayhem” steps out into the road and stares right into a cars
headlights, making no attempt to move, just like a deer, and gets slammed by the car. Now, as
cruel as it may be, people tend to laugh in movies and shows when people are hit by cars or
buses. Something about it just gives most of us a first reaction to chuckle. Other instances in this
series of commercials have the same intended reaction of getting hit by a car, to make us laugh.
Memory is an amazing power. We as people have the ability to remember our favorite
quotes, stories and even some things we would rather forget. Allstate definitely tries to act on our
memories by creating highly entertaining commercials that just stick in your head for hours after
watching them. Something “Mayhem” does in all of the commercials is say “If you’ve got cut-
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rate insurance, you could be paying thousands. So get Allstate, you could save a couple bucks
and be better protected from mayhem like me.” After he says this he usually begins the evil, now
you’re in trouble laugh. Sometimes these commercials are so stuck in my mind that I would
actually rather forget them, but they are just so catchy! Many people could even quote the “be
better protected from Mayhem like me” line. Really Allstate just creates great, memory lasting
commercials!
Allstate’s mayhem commercials are not only funny, but they actually work! In 2010,
when the mayhem commercials had been on TV for “two full quarters,” and people began to
really recognize them, Allstate’s sales went up 4.3%, “to $7.9 billion” (Edwards). A sales
increase this large is something any company would want to get their hands on. Allstate’s sales
and earnings had actually been decreasing little by little each quarter, but when they began airing
this series of commercials, after time for it to really get out there, their sales began going up each
quarter (Edwards). Coincidence? I doubt it. According to Russel, “Since the Mayhem campaign
was launched in June 2010, he has been an industry favorite and loved by consumers, who find
the mischievous character hilarious.” Allstate’s CEO even knew Mayhem was working well for
them, he was quoted saying "It's working. If you look at our quotes and our new business, it's
way up.” Now people are buying bobble heads and even dressing up as Mayhem for Halloween!
(Russel). Now get this, Allstate’s Mayhem commercial even won “Best of Show” at the Chicago
ADDY awards, which is the world’s largest advertising competition (Harris). Also said about the
catchy campaign is “The campaign, which was intended to infuse doubt into the minds of people
who might be attracted to cheaper "cut-rate" competitors, quickly entered the pop culture,
generating a ton of free publicity for Allstate.” To add to the success of the Mayhem series,
Allstate didn’t even test these commercials like most companies do! They just thought it was a
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great idea and tried to get it out there as soon as possible. It was actually quite a gamble. But it
definitely paid off (Schultz).
Allstate uses many different techniques in their commercials to successfully influence
and persuade customers. By using humorous scenes and having things happen that make people
laugh in the advertisements, it promotes the product they are selling, which is insurance. What a
great way to promote something that can be seen as dry and boring! Also, no matter what
commercial it is, no matter what crazy scenario Allstate portrays, you’re covered.
In the end, advertising does matter. For Allstate, good advertising was all they needed to
raise sales and increase profit. By creating entertaining, humorous commercials that aim at
young people, they obviously got their message through based on the sales numbers. These
highly amusing commercials leave a lasting impression long after the 30 seconds it airs on the
television screen!
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Works Cited
Edwards, Jim. ""Mayhem" Seems to Be Working Out Nicely for Allstate." cbsnews.com. CBS
News, 11 Jan. 2011. Web. 10 Oct. 2012.
Harris , Melissa. "Allstate ‘Mayhem’ ads win top ADDY award.
"archive.chicagobreakingbusiness.com. Tribune Newspaper, 11 Mar. 2012. Web. 11 Oct. 2012.
Mayhem: Deer Video. Dir. Allstate. Perf. Dean Winters. 31 May 2012. youtube.com. Web. 12 Oct.
2012.
"Persuasive Techniques in Advertising." readwritethink.org. Read-Write-Think, 2009. Web. 6 Oct.
2012.
Russell, Mallory. "MEET MAYHEM: The Man Who Made Insurance
Interesting."businessinsider.com. Business Insider Inc., 19 Apr. 2012. Web. 14 Sept. 2012.
Schultz, E.J.. "Why Allstate Doesn't Test Its Ads." adage.com. Ad Age, 12 Oct. 2012. Web. 16 Oct.
2012.