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I was recently listening to radio commercials, when I heard a Geico commercial on how consistent of a company they are:

At Geico, we're all about consistency. To show that, we're going to play a radio commercial from 75 years ago.

"At Geico, we're all about consistency. Call us today, call us tomorrow, call us 75 years from now!"

Geico, celebrating 75 years.

Forgive me if this is a really bad question, but it seems awfully convenient to have that sitting around since 1940.

Does anyone know if this recording actually exists, or if it was just a stage production?

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    – pericles316
    Commented Feb 25, 2016 at 5:25
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    The company has been around that long, (1938), but every reference I've found so far on authenticity is people opinion that it's fake with no particular truth either way.
    – Sean Duggan
    Commented Feb 25, 2016 at 13:08
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    I've heard the commercial. Seems pretty obvious it was a joke.
    – cobaltduck
    Commented Feb 25, 2016 at 13:46
  • @cobaltduck That's exactly why I asked here; it seemed like a joke but I wasn't sure.
    – Ben Morris
    Commented Feb 25, 2016 at 14:41
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    Can you link to a recording of the said commercial (to prove notability)?
    – March Ho
    Commented Feb 25, 2016 at 15:12

1 Answer 1

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It is a pretend radio commercial.

Even though the company did exist 75 years ago the acronym "GEICO" was not in use at that time.

Instead, the name "Government Employees Insurance Company" was used without an acronym.

See for example the 1949 ads in The Postal Record, Volume 62.

Also, you can see from these ads that back then you would be writing the company, not calling the company.

The company only filed to register the trademark "GEICO" in 1962, and stated it was in use since 1948, so it was definitely not in use in 1940.

Particularly, the record of US trademark registration number 0763274 for the trademark "GEICO" for insurance, says:

FIRST USE: 19480000. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19480000

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