Have you seen the new State Farm commercial? At first glance, it reminded me of the “War of the Worlds” movies. People who play the game Portal 2, though, think they see a strong resemblance between the robot in the State Farm commercial, and a robot named “Atlas” in the video game.
You may have seen the series of commercials from State Farm which involve a State Farm agent who somehow has obtained genie-like powers. These commercials feature a group of young adults, one of whom has purchased the protection of State Farm insurance. Something goes wrong, and instead of freaking out about it, the young insured person sings the State Farm jingle.
Instantly, a State Farm agent appears, out of nowhere, and makes everything all better. This series of ads are not without humor. Usually, the friends of the insured young adult start making unusual and impossible requests of the State Farm genie, (who supplies every wish).
Earlier this year, the band Weezer did a cover version of the State Farm jingle. They did the entire, full length, song, (which was originally written by Barry Manilow). Weezer created a video of their band preforming the jingle, which probably is still on YouTube, somewhere.
In other words, State Farm has been creating ads that seem to be designed to attract the younger demographic of customers to their insurance company. I’m not sure how well this strategy worked for the insurer in their latest commercial, though.
The new ad is called “State of Chaos”, which sounds like it could easily be the name of an expansion to an online game of some kind. The commercial shows a scene that reminds me of the “War of the Worlds” movies.
A large robot, with one electronic eye in the center of it’s body, is destroying a suburban neighborhood. The headless robot has two huge arms, that rise up above it’s body, and two large legs, with giant, stomping feet. There are people screaming, and running away from the giant robot monster, much like you would see in an old, Japanese, science fiction movie.
As the chaos goes on, two men stand in the middle of the street, calmly narrating the damage that the giant robot is causing to their neighbor, Dwayne’s, property. Or, perhaps these men are simply in shock. I’m not quite sure. The robot stomps on and flattens Dwayne’s car, smashes his house, and then reaches into the rubble to pick up Dwayne himself.
Gamers who have been playing the video game Portal 2, which was released in July of 2011, think that they see a strong resemblance between the robot in the State Farm “State of Chaos” commercial, and a robot in the video game.
Apparently, there is a robot named “Atlas” in the Portal 2 game. Atlas has an electronic eye in the center of its body, two legs with large feet, and two arms that extend up above the headless body of the robot.
There are some small differences between the “State of Chaos” robot in the commercial, and Atlas, but they are slight. Atlas is mostly white in color, with black accents. The State Farm robot is mostly black, with dark grey accents. People are speculating that either State Farm has some connection with the company that makes the Portal 2 game, or that State Farm has “borrowed” the robot design without permission.
Image by Steve Jurvetson on Flickr