Mark Ellis is not afraid to to admit it: He’s fallen for Progressive’s top salesperson.
Much discussion in the Good Men Project pages and other culturally attuned and male-centric publications coalesces around the perceived denigration of men as promulgated by the advertising industry. What used to be compartmentalized as “Madison Avenue” is routinely pilloried for both blatant and subtle depictions of males as flummoxed, dim, sometimes feminized, and generally ridiculous.
Knowledgeable and evolved men have long understood the way this game plays out and have grown inured to such insidious messages. But every once and a while a refresher course in Hidden Persuaders-101 is indicated. In order to resist the relentless manipulations of the ad-biz, men must periodically hone their ability to deconstruct the subtexts of everything from beer commercials to Viagra spots.
For our lesson today we will focus on The Progressive (insurance) Lady, aka Flo.
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Flo is a masculinized woman surrounded by a variety of weak male archetypes. The one possible tough guy who comes to her retail stage set, a young biker looking for motorcycle insurance, is sent slinking away when Flo reveals that her hog’s engine is bigger than his.
On another visit to the Progressive store, two executives from a competing firm have come shopping for a better deal than their own company can offer. Flo humors the guy who is a safe driver, while his associate whizzes by giggling on a shopping cart. “He’s my ride home,” reveals the testosterone-challenged responsible driver.
These guys have recurring roles in the campaign, and in another commercial, flip out with embarrassingly childlike joy and skip over to where Progressive’s magnificent Insurance-go-Round is spinning autos, RV’s, and golf carts.
It doesn’t take a Vance Packard degree in advertising analysis to understand that these men are symbolically gay (not that there’s anything wrong with that) and that Flo has more “balls” than either of them.
Other hapless men who work with Flo populate the tableau, one whose hands are turned to boxes, as he apparently ignored Flo’s admonition, “hands out of the bundler.” Another guy dances around in a cartoonish dollar-sign suit, advertising “Big Money” to a disco beat, until Flo dismisses him to go on break.
Still another man, middle-aged, on a walking tour with some visitors, reveals to Flo’s icky displeasure that his mother will not let him drive.
Of all these men, which does Flo most prefer? He’s a gee-whiz nerd, who goes orgasmic and gets “carried away” with every discount Flo rattles off. She responds with the most sexually explicit line in the campaign: “Happens to me all the time.”
And that’s where I come in.
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It’s undeniable, really. The image of men presented by Progressive’s campaign provides plenty of fodder for critics who see a bias against traditional male archetypes in the advertising marketplace.
But I like Flo. I’ll go even further, I have crush on Flo. Further, I would like to be with Flo, if something like that could possibly ever happen. She’s foxy, yes, but I’m also attracted to her strength.
I’ll go even further: my auto insurance is carried by Progressive.
Why, when some of my conservative pals were dumping Progressive policies on ideological grounds (the company CEO is a notable liberal donor), did I stay with Flo? Because in my experience the company provides good insurance at a reasonable price. I may be suspicious about some of the socio-cultural messaging in their commercials, and I may politically disagree with the corporation’s owner, but as long as the core product is good, I can overlook all that.
I read the Hidden Persuaders when I was 16 and never looked back. Though I don’t always grasp the motivational signaling of a commercial or the intended audience for it, I know the advertising agencies do. I understand that they have leavened a considerable portion of Freud, B.F. Skinner, and Barnum and Bailey into the mix.
Ultimately, Progressive’s campaign has “worked.” I’ve fallen for their top saleswoman. But I’m on a definite six-month plan with her, which cycles each policy period.
All I have to do in order to keep my thing going with Flo is to make sure that whatever she’s selling, in addition to her undeniable cuteness, is that the product I want is analyzed, and rejected if necessary.
I always think of Rosie (aka Nancy Walker) from the Quicker Picker Upper commercials when I see the Progressive commercials. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STu2bheoxnY
Just showing my age, I guess.
The ads are at least as anti-woman as they are anti-man. Amelie. RIng any bells? Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Ring a few more? Flo only exists to fix these broken-down husks of men through her magic Tinkerbell powers, which somehow don’t save her from a miserably chipper wageslave existence that leaves no room for a 3-dimensional identity. Flo only exists to make men happy. Broken sad men, but nonetheless superior to Flo, whose only purpose in life is to serve. They have lives to go back to. She does not, trapped as she is within the sterile universe of white… Read more »
My apologies, Mark. I’ve noticed several articles on TGMP whose headlines don’t seem to match the content. Now I know why.
Apology accepted, Copyleft. I had no idea Flo would be such a “hot button” issue.
Regarding Flo’s relative attractiveness–no, she’s no Audrey Hepburn. But she exudes the kind of gregarious accessibility that average men find appealing, simply because many men would be slightly intimidated by a Hepburn, but can imagine themselves with a friendly and confident woman who does not look like a Hollywood starlet or supermodel.
And I wouldn’t put it past the Progressive braintrust to factor that men would feel superior to the weakened men in the commercials, and thus feel they could “rescue” Flo from such pantywaists.
It MUST be a guy thing. All the men I know love Flo. I turn her off as soon as her homely face comes on the TV screen. Cute? Ugh.
I agree with Ms. Reynolds: the commercials are, like all TV ads, silly and childish. And in my opinion, Flo with her phony cuteness, is the silliest of them all. How has she endured? Why is there a doll now that looks like her? Get me outta here!
I hate the Progressive commercials! Several months ago, I e-mailed the company and told them their commercials were silly, demeaning and an insult to my intelligence. And you’re right on target, Mark, when you complain it’s anti-male. Stay away from Flo. She’ll turn you into a girly-man.
Flo has a new love interest… it is the man she has a shared moment of daydreaming about a camping trip with. So you had best make your move quickly.
Good essay full of fun. Love the tongue in cheek approach.
I don’t make a habit of arguing with editorial decisions, but my headline for this piece was different from the above. The essay was intended as high humor, and I thought I made clear that I wasn’t dumping Progressive because I was secure enough to stick with the company despite their male-denigrating messages and knew enough to reject them.
Headline changed, thank you Good Men Project!
So, by perpetuating the sexist attacks on men, Progressive has won you over and you now worship at Flos’ feet? Good job, Marketing! The feminist men are yours to command.