CompareTheMarket.com – CompareTheMeerkat.com
14 January 2009 by SilkyYou know what’s funny about foreigners?
The way they all talk funny in their funny little accents. Particularly when they’re trying to speak English but they just keep mispronouncing words.
What are they, all stupid or something?
And we all know how funny stupid people are – particularly when they’re foreign (I’m thinking of you “the Irish”).
Anyways, here’s the very funny new advert from CompareTheMarket.com featuring Aleksandr the meerkat from, wait for it, CompareTheMeerkat.com:
And what’s funny, right, is that we thought this meerkat, with his very thick Russian accent – because that’s where they’re from, said “meerkat” and not “market” but really all along he was saying “market” and not “meerkat”. Or no, was it we thought he said “market” but he really said “meerkat”.
Whatever it was, it was like funking funny.
Or…
Or it was like sub-Borat but without any of the intelligent, cleverly constructed humour so we just laugh at someone from a foreign country with a funny accent in our everso endearing ”ignorance is bliss” smug way, that we do.
I’m not sure which one, but it’s definitely one of them.
As a treat, to keep the readers of TV’s Worst Adverts ahead of the herd, here’s a snippet from the next brilliant instalment called “CompereTheMarket.com” in which, and you’ll love this, Omid Djalili “comperes” a “market” (do you see what they’ve done there?):
“…ah, I can’t keep that accent up any more.
Anyway next up we’ve got a very funny guy, Mick. He’s going to try and sell you some brussels sprouts.
No Christmas dinner is complete without brussels sprouts, is it? Sadly we don’t have brussels sprout in Iran. But it’s not too much of a problem… we don’t have Christmas either.”
It’s going to be hilarious, I promise you.
Just How Bad is this Ad?
(58 votes, average: 2.93 out of 5)
54Responses:
Mags
Said on the 14 January 2009
Noooo! This advert is great. I’ve only watched it once but I recognise it immediately and I can remember the product. Better than Conf*** dot com that makes me leave the room.
R E Krishna
Said on the 15 January 2009
Of course it’s “like totally non-PC” to be faking a foreign accent for the sake of comedy. Who gives a shit though? This harmless ad really does appeal to my infantile sense of humour. ( Won’t influence my internet shopping habits though.)
Kez
Said on the 15 January 2009
I thought this was funny
Oh well
Archer
Said on the 15 January 2009
All absolutely valid points. It’s an annoying ad campaign that attempts to get a cheap laugh out of ‘hilarious’ foreign accents. I was completely behind you all the way…
BUT… then I went on the website (just, you know, to check). And I’m sorry but it turns out there’s not much funnier than a meerkat dressed as a ninja.
frankie smales
Said on the 16 January 2009
i love this advert and i think the meerkat is
totaly cute by acting dandidly posh and the
site do exist because i was looking at the
site the other week and i think that owners
of compare the market .com site did the meerkat
version as an big joke and it’s brilliant and the
advert is funny though 20/10
frankie smales
(frankie smales movie and tv review uk)
Gina
Said on the 16 January 2009
This post made me laugh out loud twice, firstly because Mr Gina inexplicably thinks this advert is hilarious and secondly because he is Irish.
The whole thing stinks of bored advertising executives trying to get students and 20-somethings talking about a car insurance comparison website. These are people who don’t have cars.
Shirley
Said on the 17 January 2009
I love the advert – the foreign accent is incidental and it serves its purpose.
R E Krishna
Said on the 21 January 2009
I’m puzzled. According to Wikipedia, meerkats “inhabit all parts of the Kalahari desert in Botswana and South Africa.” Even the word meerkat is Afrikaans. Why then does Aleksandr speak with a heavy Russian accent? Is there some political intrigue at work here? Is Aleksandr in fact a……MOLE??
RJ Roberts
Said on the 21 January 2009
Car insurance seems to be the new “I need a loan” (which was in turn the new “accident helpline”). You see them desperately going through every marketing technique in the book, hiring once respectable celebrities you just didn’t think would sell their soul to some asshole insurance brokers. I suppose the cartoony nature of the ads is supposed to make insurance fun, like chocolate or Playstation. But it just isn’t, and will never be. All these ads should be purged from the airwaves, immediately.
Andy
Said on the 21 January 2009
How about someone invents “Compare the authors of cr*p articles.com” and we can see if anyone is lacking a life so much as the author of this one?
caroline
Said on the 22 January 2009
i thought the little guy was speaking with an afrikaans accent. oh dear. this advert is absolute genius. leave it on – leave it alone.
right now i’m going to look up the comparethemeerkat.com
i’m soooo glad i have a sense of humour
*blows raspberry at those who don’t*
Phil
Said on the 23 January 2009
I don’t see that the advert tries to extract any humour out of the Meerkat’s foreign accent. It’s more just a shit way for the CompareTheMarket guys to cook up a joke website with pictures of Meerkats in bras or whatever, so they can say “look boss, we’ve made a marketing campaign and it’s gone viral…ooooh”
CovertJellyfish
Said on the 27 January 2009
“there’s not much funnier than a meerkat dressed as a ninja.”… I can only think of a chicken with a chainsaw, but that’s about it…..
name
Said on the 30 January 2009
Wow! Racism is almost funny. What tossers. Their car insurance quotes are the worst of the comparison sites anyway
MAtt
Said on the 4 February 2009
the best bit is, if you type in meerkat into google, confused pops up and says “confused about meerkats? inspired!
frankie smales
Said on the 6 February 2009
for thoes fans of the compare the meerkat.com
tv advert i am pleased to tell you they have done
an sequel to the first advert and it still is funny
as ever and now on tv check it out ok.
frankie smales
(frankie smales movie and tv review uk)
Simon
Said on the 26 February 2009
@frankie – do you have punctuation?
The advert was OK – it just turned into something very annoying because it’s on every bloody channel all the bloody time. I now hate it with a passion. They’ve somehow misunderstood viral marketing, since it makes me feel ill.
pavlos
Said on the 26 February 2009
Aleksandr Orlov is a star, and should have his own show.
roni gordon
Said on the 3 March 2009
your website is misnamed (ironic as that’s the premise of the meerkat ad!)
this is, undoubtedly, one of the most iconic ad campaigns of recent times and it will run and run
Hafoot
Said on the 8 March 2009
I didn’t laugh, i didn’t even smile.
But that’s down to the “every-advert-is-shit” attitude i have built up over the years.
The few that are good are on 400 times a day on every channel so they eventually just become annoying.
Also it’s about car insurance or some shit so pfft…
Archer
Said on the 8 March 2009
@ roni gordon
How’s the pay over there at Compare the Market?
Teribus
Said on the 6 April 2009
You know, I think the compare the meerkat advert is quite clever.
The advert is more humourous than most of the TV programs that air on our TV screens!
Wouldn’t make me use a price comparison website. I did it once… never again.
Steve H
Said on the 12 April 2009
The chances of someone typing meerkat instead of market are negligible even when you factor in how bad most people are at spelling these days. I found this ad about as hilarious as when Rowan Atkinson said “Holy Goat” instead of Holy Ghost when playing a nervous, bumbling comedy vicar. Very lazy and just not funny. Real Meerkats are quite funny though. Fake ones with Russian accents are not. A real meerkat,dubbed swearing in a cockney accent while advertising pot noodles to a tune by Madness, that might work !
Po0h
Said on the 15 June 2009
Very catchy, got the message, and stands out from all them over depressing adverts.
what more do you all want from an advert?
John A Smith
Said on the 17 June 2009
Compare the meerkat ad may have been faintly amusing at its inception but is now unbelievably annoying and must surely now be counterproductive in terms of attracting customers. Please try something else!!!
Another Ad Hater
Said on the 17 June 2009
You know what? I used to find this funny but now that I have seen it on TV about 500 fucking times it is really starting to get annoying! Knock it off with the price comparison site adverts.
Neil
Said on the 17 June 2009
Getting rather sick of this advert, didn’t find it particularly funny.
My Polish mate Jacek, who has a mixed attitude towards the Russians (and loathes and despises the Germans) makes a sudden rush for the mute button every time one of these bloody Meerkat adverts come on, I honestly believe he’d sooner deep fry his own head than ever see another one of these adverts again. My knowledge of the Polish language is coming along great thanks to Aleksandr, though I don’t think I should try any of the words Jacek shouts out on the nice bit of stuff in the Polish shop up the road from me.
rik o shea
Said on the 18 June 2009
compare the meercat put in the oven at gas mark 6 for 45minutes or microwaved for 90 seconds on full power .com
Mikey
Said on the 20 July 2009
I’ve gave them hell for mass advertising, also insulted the CEO and the designers of the advert, there all obsessed with mass advertising. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, thats what these companies have, they might take the hint but I support a blackout every time the advert comes on its power off and I love the silence its golden. You never know they might take the hint.
Less of the safety – Good old Boris ! at Steve Antony Williams – The Blog
Said on the 23 July 2009
[...] going to “cut it” but he’s right, maybe we’re more excited about comparing Meerkats than we are about space exploration. Whatever happened to the human race’s sense of [...]
joe
Said on the 24 July 2009
i hate this advert but apparantly alot of people dont, infact its taking the world by storm for some strange reason, i dont get it, its a bit like that pile of shit little britain, it took the world by storm for some funky reason. By the way silky you jealous of irish or something?
fleagle
Said on the 29 July 2009
The first time I saw it was funny, but every advert break…GRRRR
Tarquin Fintimblimwimlim Biscuit-Barrel
Said on the 30 July 2009
I hate to admit it, but I love the meerkat ads.
This isn’t supposed to happen to me. I despise advertising.
I need help…
Daniel Newton
Said on the 18 August 2009
This was god the 1st time round, but it looses its appeal after the 500th.
STOP REPEATING IT ON EVERY AD BREAK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Archer
Said on the 19 August 2009
Meerkat Puppet Theatre gives me the willies.
CovertJellyfish
Said on the 19 August 2009
And you know when you have the willies…
(It was too tempting a target, I couldn’t resist)
Archer
Said on the 19 August 2009
That’s what he said…
frankie smales
Said on the 20 August 2009
well it is called the hard times of this financial crisis that tv advertising
companies are making less tv advertisements so they are bound to recycle
the tv adverts on nearly every single advert break in order to save money
and there is an invention called the tv remote if you see something irritating
on tv you can just watch something eles on the box.
frankie smales
(tv advert fan)
CovertJellyfish
Said on the 20 August 2009
But then I wouldn’t be able to embarrass myself on the internet……
jessiebabe
Said on the 21 August 2009
hi i like all da adverts simpils
Archer
Said on the 21 August 2009
Jellyfish, you should do what I do. When you run out of ways to embarrass yourself on the internet, just go out into the real world and make a twat of yourself there instead. It works for me!
CovertJellyfish
Said on the 21 August 2009
Nah, a twat is useful, I’d be better as a floppy dick, that’s no use to any twat…
Archer
Said on the 21 August 2009
Ha ha… I read that as ‘floppy disk’ at first. I couldn’t work out why you wanted to be a piece of outdated technology that no-one has a drive for anymore…
CovertJellyfish
Said on the 21 August 2009
Which more than aptly describesErm, lol?Archer
Said on the 21 August 2009
Are you fishing for someone to stroke your ego?
CovertJellyfish
Said on the 21 August 2009
Aren’t I always?
That brings a whole new meaning to the phrase “Jellyfishing”
Archer
Said on the 21 August 2009
At least there’s a post on here that’ll help me recognize when I’ve had a stroke.
Another Ad Hater
Said on the 24 September 2009
ARGH!! Will these meerkats ever FUCK OFF?! I keep seeing this shit every goddamn ad break!
Seriously, this advert is getting so old. I’ve probably seen these meerkats about 2,000 fucking times!! It’s been on since January and STILL they show this?! GIVE IT A FUCKING REST ALREADY!
Maul
Said on the 29 October 2009
I like these adverts they are more orininal then anything esle on TV atmo….Given the choice i would rather watch this for an hour then 5 minutes of those fucking DFS adverts
Leon
Said on the 14 November 2009
Yeah, it’s hilarious how it’s not racism when it’s italians like the dolmio ad, or russians like this one. it’s not funny at all….whichever accent youre taking the piss out of. it’s just a pointless cliche, involving meerkats. it’s arbitrary and sad.
Chick Fowler
Said on the 7 December 2009
When are we going to see the Meerkat Opera advert, which, incidentally I have christened Eine Kleine Nachtmeerkat?
Ad Hater 2.0
Said on the 21 December 2009
#3 on Ad of the Decade?! How the fuck is this the third best ad of the last 10 years?! It’s been on about 50,000 times and I just can’t stand seeing it anymore. FUCK OFF!
Derek Hibbart
Said on the 24 February 2010
The first ad was great and the latest just as good – keep ‘em coming!
Potty Rottie
Said on the 26 March 2010
I love this meerkat and so does my dog, he gets excited whenever he comes on. Who’s heard of a Russian meerkat, thought they came from desert regions of Africa
I reckon he could end up with his own show probably with fame on a par with Basil Brush !!