Okay, This Is Important
What is the deal with corporate mascot accents? The Geiko Gecko thing was weird, when he went from a rather posh British accent (or maybe a sort of “Mid-Atlantic” accent at the very beginning when Kelsey Grammer voiced it) to sounding like he was plotting a heist in a Guy Ritchie movie. I guess that is a warmer, more easy to relate to accent, but it was kind of jarring when the little bugger suddenly switched gears. That was nothing compared to the Travelocity roaming gnome, though. I get the rationale for using a garden gnome because of the whole “steal a garden gnome and send the owner pictures of it from all over the place” thing, but it was always a bit odd to have it speaking in what sounded like a parody of a plummy upper-class twit British accent. The gnome in question is clearly one of the Huygen/Poortvliet Scandinavian variety, so if it is speaking with a stereotypical accent it should being saying “yumpin’ yimmeny” and so on.
The Classic "Gnomes"
Travelocity Gnome - See What I Mean?
But now, it too has gone to a Cockney accent, but in keeping with its original lack of subtly it has veered off into over the top music-hall style. He doesn’t ever say “Gor blimey!” in the last commercial, but I’m sure it is only a matter of time. I’m really hoping someone can explain all this to me. The only potential upside that I can see is the possibility of these spokescreatures using rhyming slang at some point. It would hardly make the commercials more incomprehensible, and it would make them more entertaining.
This is very simple. Both corporations are at the mercy of their mascots and their mutual agent in this situation. The gecko has an extremely limited attention span and suffers from detachment disorder (because of its reptilian brain and all) therefore, they have to be replaced frequently. Scouts scour the world for replacements and when one is found, they go with it regardless of the change in accent. Naturally scouts try to stick with one continent at a time for as long as possible, but accents do vary.
As for the gnome, a sadder situation you could not ask for. All gnomes are unreliable drunkards and corporations simply cannot afford the rock star style babysitting fees to watch over them. Hence, they too have to be replaced frequently.
Unfortunately, both the gnome and gecko communities have heavy ties to CAA (the agent in both of these cases and this information is highly classified) and two more lucrative contracts have never been written. Tisk, tisk.