Aleksandr and Sergei, the loveable CGI Russian meerkats who’ve graced our screens for over a decade, have been pulled from UK news broadcasts amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Price comparison website, Comparethemarket – which Aleksandr and Sergei constantly reminded viewers was different to their own website, ‘Comparethemeerkat’- announced it would pull their beloved ads during news bulletins to avoid seeming insensitive to the current conflict.
‘The Comparethemarket meerkats are fictional characters,” a Comparethemarket spokesperson told Daily Mail UK.
‘They have no association with Russia and the current situation. We are continually reviewing our advertising to ensure we’re being sensitive to the current situation.’
Fictional Russian meerkat billionaire, Aleksandr, and his tech whizkid sidekick, Sergei, first appeared on UK screens in 2009, before making their Aussie TV debut in 2012.
The campaign has been extremely successful for Comparethemarket, with the comparison company going from 16th to fourth most visited comparison website within a year of airing the ads.
Aleksandr and Sergei also became consumer favourites, with the former’s catchphrase, “Simples” being added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2019.
In fact, Comparethemarket has become so reliant on the ads that of its estimated 2021 £90 million ($A165 million) UK marketing budget, roughly two-thirds was spent on TV campaigns alone.
