Screenvision, a movie-screen ad-programming company, announced last week that Insurance company GEICO, which ran television advertisements that inspired the creation of ABC's new comedy,
Cavemen, has bought a two-minute ad spot that shows the prehistoric characters singing about their romantic troubles.
According to
USA Today, the ad spot, which features the cavemen crooning the Frank Sinatra song “Everything Happens to Me” to a group of women in a high-rise apartment, is being shown in 4,062 screens in 341 theaters across the country. At the end of the video, moviegoers are urged to visit GEICO website CavemansCrib.com.
"People would much rather see this than a still ad for a dentist," Phil Ovuka, Geico media director, said.
The ad spot not only does well to promote the insurance company, but the Cavemen series as well. Despite ABC's efforts to plug the program,
Cavemen has continued to decline in the ratings, as well as receive negative feedback from viewers and critics alike.
Although the show's premiere won the 8pm timeslot among men ages 18 to 34 and 18 to 49, ratings in the key adult demographic plummeted 25 percent and shed 2.2 million viewers during the show's second week out.
Cavemen earned third place for the night, trailing behind CBS'
NCIS and FOX's
Bones. The show's poor performance affected its lead-out,
Carpoolers, which suffered a 20 percent drop in the demographic as compared to its series premiere ratings.
Cavemen is a comedy series that revolves around three friends, who happen to be cavemen living in modern society. The humor of the show is supposed to stem from the cavemen's attempt to lead normal lives in the midst of discrimination and ignorance, but so far, the majority of viewers are unimpressed.
The show, co-created and executive-produced by Will Speck, stars
Bill English as Joel,
Sam Huntington as Andy,
Nick Kroll as Nick,
Stephanie Lemelin as Thorne,
Julie White as Leslie and
Kaitlin Doubleday as Kate.
Cavemen airs Tuesday nights at 8pm on ABC.
-Lisa Claustro, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: Broadcasting & Cable, USA Today, Hollywood Reporter
(Image Courtesy of USA Today)