• Ad Age, Monday, August 13, 2007 11:15 AM

When ABC rolls out it new "Cavemen" sitcom, don't expect to see many insurance advertisers -- maybe not even the one that inspired the series. Based on characters from Geico's popular ad campaign, the show has little appeal to the company's competitors, which together spent about $1.4 billion on media last year. Aflac is one of those keeping away, preferring shows that "better reach" its target audience, while New York Life's media buyer refuses to put the company's ads in the program. "Why would you want to put your ad in somebody else's ad?" asks Gene DeWitt of DeWitt Media Options. "Basically, the whole show is a program-length commercial."

Over at State Farm, vice president, advertising Mark Gibson is undecided and a spokeswoman for Progressive says it hasn't completed its fourth-quarter ad schedule, but is "cautious about new shows because they don't have a proven history."

Even Geico is treading carefully, and its plans for the show "have not been firmed up yet," says Ted Ward, Geico's vice president-advertising, who notes his firm is "not in control of any of the show's content or messages" and gets no "no creative input nor script review/approval rights."

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