I love the end of this Allstate commercial, but I have a real problem with terrible customer service on display at the beginning. Not only does the host interrupt Allstate Man as he’s speaking, he doesn’t even look up from his phone as he does it. I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt and believe whatever he’s doing on his phone is work related, but he should still make eye contact. I realize him looking up and recognizing Allstate Man is what kicks off the joke, but I could have done without the rudeness.
Everyone is good, including the host. He’s sincere and I like his two handed gesture. Haysbert is steady and the line cooks are solid, but the real stars here are the people geeking out at the table. The girl is so excited she has to get up out of her chair a bit, and the guy, at first bold enough to say hello, turns back to his girl to give us his fantastic take on, “That’s totally him. That’s totally the guy,” before finally turning away in a belated attempt to play it cool.
I only wish I could be there when that actor, Pete Carboni, gets recognized as the guy from the commercial about recognizing the guy from the commercial, and hear someone says, “That’s totally him. That’s totally the, ‘that’s totally the guy’ guy.”
By the way, have you seen the rest of this through-the-looking-glass oeuvre from Allstate where Dennis Haysbert plays the person who appears in Allstate commercials, but who is not necessarily Dennis Haysbert? This is where we are now, insurance companies writing fan-fiction about their own advertising and passing it off as more advertising.
There’s this one, where the Allstate Man’s friends (us) are watching a fake basketball game and become visibly annoyed with Allstate Man (Allstate) and how many insurance commercials he’s in.
Allstate Man shrugs and gives them a, “Don’t look at me, man, I didn’t make the rules. If you want people to remember something, you have to beat them over the head with it.”
Then there’s this one, where Allstate Man is trying to break through into television, but is having trouble because he’s already so famous.
This is the one where the Allstate universe and the Dennis Haysbert universe are most closely aligned because Dennis Haysbert is a working actor and has been since the late 70’s. Part of me thinks these commercials were Haysbert’s idea, his way of dealing with being more well known as a pitch man than as a “serious” actor. It’s probably not easy. There’s probably some real conflict there, or was, he’s had this job since 2003. Maybe the reason we’re seeing these now is he’s finally come to terms with it. Or maybe not. As he stands there on the shoulder of a gritty desert road, more prop than performer, you can almost hear him saying, “Don’t forget, I was in Heat and Major League.”
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