There was a time when all beer commercials were funny. And all insurance commercials were serious. But a funny thing happened between the 1990s and now.
Insurance advertising got funny, and beer got unfunny.
Oh, there are exceptions, all right. After decades of dreadfully unfunny work, humor has made a comeback of sorts in the beer category with the Bud Light Knight campaign.
But the insurance work has gotten really funny. It might have all started here. Soon other insurance brands followed suit: Allstate’s Mayhem, Farmers’ Hall of Claims, Progressive’s Flo, and State Farm’s “She Shed.”
The question is why?
Our guess is that this sense of humor has followed one generation as it grew older. The same people who laughed their way through the 90s are now older and laughing their way through more serious things. Like home and auto insurance.
If this continues, who knows, maybe the funniest TV commercials on the Super Bowl in 2030 will be for incontinence, funeral planning, and nursing homes.
Because this generation really knows how to laugh at itself.