These ads for Protegent feature the antivirus's mascot, Proto, who was originally quite literally just Whyatt/Super Why but recolored. The ads that were made include a few where Proto suggests Protegent to an adult struggling with some computer-based problem, a few where Proto raps about the benefits of Protegent (which have also been put together as one ad), and one where Proto mentions Protegent's data recovery software to... another Proto, apparently, after the latter's computer crashes.
Most of the ads in their original format can be watched on this
unofficial Vimeo account. Other ads include "Proto vs. Viruses: an Epic Battle" (introducing a somewhat redesigned Proto, in English and Hindi), a remake of the commercial involving the Proto lookalike, and "Keep Calm when Proto is ON".
"I am Proto! Trope Examples is my motto!":
- Accent Upon The Wrong Syllable: Proto's rap has several rhymes that are made by placing an accent on the wrong syllable of the word.
- All-CGI Cartoon: The "oops, my system crashed" ad onwards is entirely CGI-animated.
- Animate Inanimate Object: One commercial involves an anthropomorphic laptop.
- Artistic License – Cars: The school bus in "Keep Calm when Proto is ON" has several issues: there's no emergency exit, and the interior is all yellow (instead of being white with a black floor).
- Artistic License – Physics: In "Keep Calm when Proto is ON", the school bus drives through a stone tablet, completely shattering it. In actuality, the tablet wouldn't be nearly as damaged, and it'd be more likely for the bus to crash.
- Art Shift: The "oops, my system crashed" ad is the first CGI-animated ad in the entire campaign.
- Captain Ersatz: Proto was originally a recolor of Whyatt from Super Why!.
- Character Catchphrase: In most of the commercials, Proto's first line is "Hi! You know me?", which is usually followed by "I heard all your problems, and I have a single solution to all your problems!"
- Covers Always Lie: The thumbnail for "Proto vs. Viruses: an Epic Battle" has a darker atmosphere than the actual video, and there are many viruses shown compared to the two in the video.
- "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: The Protegent rap can be considered the "theme tune", and it's sung by Proto.
- Dull Surprise:
- The man who resembles Proto reacts to his computer crashing with a surprising lack of emotion.
- Proto himself shows zero emotion in "Keep Calm when Proto is ON", due to being voiced by a text-to-speech voice.
- Easily Forgiven: All things considered, Rahul gets off pretty easily for looking at "porn" in the middle of class at school.
- Evil Laugh:
- In the Protegent rap, Proto sings the lyric "Saving you from your angry boss!", which is followed by a scene where an employee's angry boss does an evil laugh at him.
- In "Proto vs. Viruses: an Epic Battle", the viruses chasing the laptop give deep evil laughs.
- Family-Friendly "Mature" Content: "Are your students safe in school?" revolves around a teacher using the software to find which of her students was watching porn on school computers. We only see work-safe images of fully-clothed people kissing, but judging by the teacher's reaction, much more explicit material was also viewed off-screen.
- George Lucas Altered Version: The CGI ad was rereleased in 2020, with Proto's design being altered to look less like Whyatt (although, curiously, the user's design was unchanged), as well as unnecessary speech bubbles. Also, the Blue Screen of Death was replaced with a white screen for some reason (likely a result of the image file being corrupted).
- GIS Syndrome: One of the ads has a student using a computer in school looking at pictures of what's supposed to be porn, but is just couples kissing. The pictures are pretty obviously taken from Google Images searches.
- Limited Animation: It's pretty obvious from the limited joint movements and similar flaws that the animation doesn't have much of a budget put into it.
- Mascot: The ads feature Protegent's mascot, Proto.
- Milking the Giant Cow: The CGI commercial featuring Proto and the man oddly resembling Proto overuses hand gestures and flourishes.
- Motion Comic: The Antivirus Search Mission is a comic turned into a video.
- Non-Standard Character Design: Proto has a more cartoony appearance compared to the realistically-proportioned humans he sells Protegent to.
- Palette Swap: Proto is infamously one of Whyatt. Averted from 2019 onwards when he was redesigned, though he still has some of Whyatt's features.
- Product as Superhero: Proto is a personification of Protegent as a superhero.
- Reused Character Design: Proto's design is used twice for two different characters (Proto himself and a hapless user) in one commercial.
- Sound-Effect Bleep: A particularly awkwardly placed one at the beginning of the “my system crashed” ad.
- Stock Sound Effects: The laughing boss is a stock iMovie sound. The same sound can also be heard in Kid Pix Deluxe 4.
- Synthetic Voice Actor: In "Keep Calm when Proto is ON", Proto is voiced by a text-to-speech voice.
- Too Long; Didn't Dub: The laptop's line "Thank you, Proto!" in "Proto vs. Viruses: an Epic Battle" remains undubbed in the Hindi version.
- Versus Title: One of the commercials is titled "Proto vs. Viruses: an Epic Battle".
- Vocal Dissonance: Despite Proto looking like a child, he is always voiced by an adult male. This is especially the case in the 2017 commercial, where he sounds like an elderly man. The "Proto vs. Viruses" commercials try averting this by speeding up Proto's voice.
- Your Size May Vary: In the earlier commercials, Proto is very short. In "Keep Calm when Proto is ON", he appears to tower over other characters.
