Insomniac minds want to know: What's up with the geico gecko's accent?
Yes, I've hit a new low in my current bout with insomnia. This is the question that has been plaguing me tonight. Ok... plaguing is probably too strong a word. "creating intermittent curiousity" is probably a more accurate description.
My main questions are:
1) Didn't the Gecko used to have a different accent?
2) If so, why the switch?
3) Is it actually cockney or australian?
Naturally, I turned to the internet. And of course, quickly found the answer to all 3.
1) Yes - the Gecko did have a different accent in previous years. In fact, according to Wikipedia, he used to be voiced by Kelsey Grammer.
2) According to the Gecko himself, as well as his creators, it makes him more interesting, or at least memorable. In my opinion, it also makes him more irritating.
3) Well, although the Gecko acknowledges that it could be either, he seems to sway in favour of it being more of an East End London or Cockney accent than Australian, but does not go so far as to confirm it. Wikipedia reports that the agency that created him acknowledges it is Cockney and the current voice is done by a British Actor. So I think that I'll stick with Cockney.
The main little nugget of interesting information I found that I did not know (and there really aren't a whole lot of interesting nuggets of information about the Gecko because, well, he's annoying and not real) is that his first appearance in 1999 was during the Screen Actors Guild strike that prevented the use of live actors.
I did also learn that the Day Gecko (which is the actual species of Gecko that the Geico Gecko is modelled from) is native to the islands of the south-east part of the Indian Ocean - primarily around Madagascar with some related species found on neighbouring island groups and the coast of East Africa. According to the all-knowing Wikipedia, they can also often be found on the Hawaiian Islands.
A gecko with a Hawaiian accent selling car insurance... now that'd be interesting. And more scientifically accurate. If a gecko could talk, of course.
Comments
Fun gecko fact for the insomniac: They don't stick to walls with claws, or suction cups, their feet are covered with such fine hairs that they can actually exploit the Van Der Walls force -- the hairs are weakly attracted to the molecules of the wall.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/04/science/04geck.html
Posted by david adam edelstein on October 23, 2007 10:24 AM.