La llama que llama

Any U.S. resident who has been exposed to more than ten minutes of television within the last five years cannot have escaped the ubiquitous Geiko gecko, the Cockney-accented spokesbeast for Geiko insurance. Day and night, this perky little green critter exhorts us to consider switching to Geiko for our car insurance needs (he's not nearly as annoying as one might imagine, despite blanketing the airwaves with his presence).

Comedic animal spokesbeasts are, of course, not the sole preserve of Geiko. Argentina has its share as well. One of the most famous in recent years was the (now retired) "llama que llama", who - logically enough - was a spokesbeast for the phone company Telecom. Here are two examples of this fine spokesbeast in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhAcQ9ca8Ck

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxkLorN4PCU

Warning - there are some twenty of these videos in all - you may find it hard to stop at just two.

For language geeks only: the second link above is particularly funny, as it involves a further play on the word "llama", which, in addition to meaning "llama", as well as the third person singular present tense of the verb "llamar" (to call), also means "flame". Thus, the spot is playing with the idea that 'lanzallamas' (flamethrower) could also mean a device for throwing llamas.

Either you find this kind of thing funny or you don't . Personally, I think these llamas are hilarious, and that the whole ad campaign is pure genius.