The Strange Allure of the Progressive Insurance Girl (The One You Mute)

Austin 360.com ^ | 10/20/2008 | Austin 360.com

[Dallas59]

"Flo"



Stephanie Courtney



She's bubbly and beaming, high-volume, with a flip of dark hair and a face like a lollipop. She irks as she endears, bemuses as she bewitches. She's a bundle of energetic contradictions, bursting here, retracting there. Her expressions blink and change like a neon sign. Her eyes are popping globes. And she just sold you a bunch of car insurance.

Flo is her name. She's the spokeswoman for Progressive Auto Insurance, lighting up televisions in a series of commercials in which her perky cashier pitches the money-saving merits of Progressive to customers. She works in a sterile, all-white big-box store, and her florid makeup stands out like paint spilled in snow.

First she caught our eye; now she's snatched our heart. Viewers are smitten. They're crushin'. They want to know: Who's that girl?

From a recent blog at HoustonPress.com, with the headline "The Cult of the Progressive Car Insurance Chick":

"Am I the only one completely and totally enamored of the woman in the television ads for Progressive car insurance? You know, the ones starring that babelicious brunette named Flo with her 'tricked-out name tag' and her '60s style eye makeup and her kissable red, red lips?"

No, sir, you are not. There's more where that mash-note came from, out there in the blogosphere's infinite confessional space: "She's hot." "She's weird but, God, she's fine!"

[Dallas59]

Lol!

[OneWingedShark]

...I think you need to ping Laz to this thread.

[boycott]

Doesn’t George Soros own Progressive Insurance?

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No, but close enough. The name is no accident. The owner is some big time Dem donor whose name escapes me..

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The CEO of Progressive raised more money for democrats than anyone else in the 2000 elections. He is a big-time liberal.

I wouldn’t have Progressive or Geico (not after Warren Buffett) supported obama.

[Darkwolf377]

She’s like a Tim Burton creation. Sexless and irritating.

[madamemayhem]

i like flo. there is something kinda 60’s kitsch about her. she beats hell outta those stupid cavemen anyway.

[djf]

I think Laz would probably hit it.
Then he would kill it.

I might have the order reversed...

[qam1]

If we have to go Liberal insurance spokeswomen, I'll take Erin Esurance

[this_ol_patriot]

She reminds me a lot of the “madcap” comediennes of the movies in the thirties—like Jean Harlow, Eve Arden...

Imogene Coca

Imogene Coca Pictures

[OneWingedShark]

LOL

[mylife]

No Thanks

[Mamzelle]

Hey, you're on to something--

Anyway, the ability to grate or enchant but always attract attention--interesting.

[greene66]

Annoying as hell. But there IS a fascinating brilliance to the characterization.

[NavyCanDo]

I don’t know about their insurance, but I’ll take the AMICA ad girls any day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMe96QM0Y_0

[2ndDivisionVet]

Much cuter without all that makeup. Can’t believe she’s 40!

[Richard Kimball]

I like the commercials, but wouldn't buy the insurance because of the political philosophy of the owner. Same reason that although I live in Texas, I laugh whenever the Dallas Mavericks get bounced from the playoffs.

That said, last year a woman ran a red light and hit my wife. She had Progressive Insurance and they were the best people I've ever dealt with as far as handling a claim (except for my own State Farm agent.) Anyway, they paid us sixteen hundred over retail for our car and had the check ready in two days. No hassles at all.

[ltc8k6]

Not sure which is worse, “Progressive” insurance, or “Government Employees...” insurance. Progressive or GEICO....

[Pylon]

[txhurl]

State Farm may screw over everybody and everything, but they’ve been good to me and don’t advertise, thank God.

[VanDeKoik]

She is the exact type of lady I chased after in college.

Goofy to a fault, but such a sweetheart. Not proper or prudish, but not a tramp.

[avacado]

"Where's the love...."