This ad for video game design training at Collins College used to make its rounds on the G4 network. The differences portrayed in the ad versus the realities of game design are so sharply different it should warrant a ‘complete dramatization’ title.

First of all, you program video games with a video game controller? No, that would be stupid. Only a big dummy would thing that’s how it happens.

I have to say, I really love this commercial. It’s a very simple concept done well, and the presentation over ninety seconds lets the suspense build to the appropriate level.

When the drum set is revealed you know the instant before it happens that there is about to be an oddly placed drum solo in the middle of this long winding ballad which is actually not about seeing someone drown. But we now know the song is clearly about a gorilla excited beyond words that Cadbury now features a glass and a half of dairy milk in a new chocolate bar. And he expresses this joy by rocking out.

I first reviewed the restaurant Geico Cavemen ad here, and from the huge comment response I learned a lot of other people liked the ad as well.

Since then I’ve posted on other cavemen spots. With the amount of cavemen commercials out there I felt the need to start this definitive caveman article, which will feature all the current ads, and be updated with the reviews on the new ones when and if they show up.

Additionally, if one more person asks if a caveman is really Val Kilmer, or what the song playing in the airport is, I will go insane. So at the bottom of this article I will also maintain a “Geico Caveman FAQ”. So read the frequently-asked-questions before you ask a frequently asked question. For the love of god, read it first.

(Oh there is more…)

Another Geico Caveman ad is out, and I promised this comment thread I would go without food sleep or water until I had posted every available caveman ad.

While this is “Awful Commercials”, once in a while it’s good to take a look at something I consider the opposite of awful to establish some kind of bearing, and to say, no I don’t hate every single television advertisement ever made.

This ad features one of the Geico cavemen talking to his therapist about the fictitious “So Easy a Caveman Can do It” Geico.com campaign.

In some respect, this ad seems to be geared towards existing fans of the ads. It supposes the viewer has seen enough of the previous ads to not go “huh? what the hell is going on”. Geico runs so many varied ads I think this is not an issue, someone who doesn’t know what is going on has a lot more other ads being flung their way to make up for it. And since when has anything made sense on television? Not since I blew out my eardrum at the firing range, I can tell you that much.

My biggest concern, being a fan of the caveman ads, is that they would eventually damage the integrity of the humor and characters, in the classic style of such greats as George Lucas and the director of Godfather Part IV: Blood Rain. This ad stays the course like a lone superpower in a troubled land full of oil resources, and delivers some great subtleties of acting and character that made the beloved restaurant ad famous. The speechless reaction of the therapist to the caveman’s sniping comment, along with the phone call from his mom he puts on speaker phone drops the audience into a rich three-dimensional setting of human interaction in just thirty seconds.

With a healthy round of brand new Geico caveman spots out, it’s about time for an official Caveman Update. This comment thread is a pretty good testament to the fact that the original three Geico caveman spots were very well loved.