I just saw a new commercial for Progressive insurance where Sonic the Hedgehog (the video game character) is repeatedly running all around that gleaming white, seemingly endless, otherworldly set for the Progressive ads, and someone asks Flo (the main character from this ad campaign representing Progressive) what he’s doing, and she says: “I think he’s looking for savings.” But I find it telling that Sonic can run around the entirety of this “store” again and again and not actually find any savings. They’ve got “products” all over all the shelves in that “store”, so why isn’t he finding any savings? They say you will save a lot of money with them, so why did he come up empty until she told him some pro-Progressive propaganda?
And was she telling him the truth, or was she conning him? Video game characters always seem to stumble upon gold coins and such, so they may appear to be the perfect targets for bilking to insurance companies, who feel no guilt because they assume these characters will be able to just stumble upon another treasure trove of gold coins whenever they want some more simply by walking around. (I'm surprised Goldline isn't hiring video game characters so they can relieve them of all their gold coins and use them as an endless resource for future stockpiles of gold coins: whenever they run out, they could simply send the character back into the video game to get more gold coins!)
Look, here’s the deal: hedgehogs don’t need car insurance, and neither do fictional characters, so it’s no wonder he didn’t find any savings: you don’t save any money when you buy something you don’t need for less money, you just spend (or waste, actually) less money than you would have had you bought a more expensive version of what you’re buying. But the fact is that you always waste money when you buy something you don’t need, regardless of the price. And seeing as how Sonic the Hedgehog doesn’t really need car insurance, he’s just wasting his money and spinning his wheels here. (Did you like that car-related metaphor I placed there for no other reason than to have a stupid car-related metaphor, since this ad is for a car insurance company?) And that means that by not telling Sonic that he’s wasting his money on something he doesn’t even need and will never use, she’s basically scamming him out of his hard-earned money! Shame on her!
But then again, he probably just stumbled upon the money to begin with, and he's bound to just find more money later anyway in the video game environment. And besides, hedgehogs don't need money anyway, especially fictional ones. So he might as well spend some of it and help the economy, right?
Here’s the speedy spot:
