Flo is a fictional salesperson character appearing in more than 100 advertisements for

Progressive Insurance The Progressive Corporation is an American insurance company, the third largest insurance carrier and the No. 1 commercial auto insurer in the United States. The company was co-founded in 1937 by Jack Green and Joseph M. Lewis, and is headquar ...

since 2008. Portrayed by actress and comedian Stephanie Courtney, the character has developed a fan base on

social network A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for an ...

s and has become an iconic advertising

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Broadcast history

The character debuted in 2008 through several television advertisements and has since appeared in radio, print, and

web banner A web banner or banner ad is a form of advertising on the World Wide Web delivered by an ad server. This form of online advertising entails embedding an advertisement into a web page. It is intended to attract traffic to a website by linking ...

s. The fictional upbeat store employee of

Progressive Corporation The Progressive Corporation is an American insurance company, the third largest insurance carrier and the No. 1 commercial auto insurer in the United States. The company was co-founded in 1937 by Jack Green and Joseph M. Lewis, and is headqua ...

was created by copywriter John Park and art director Steve Reepmeyer, at the Boston-based agency

Arnold Worldwide Arnold Worldwide is an American advertising agency headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. The agency is part of Havas, a global advertising holding company based in France. Some of Arnold's clients include Progressive Insurance, Cox Communication ...

. Flo has appeared in more than 100 advertisements. In 2011, Progressive introduced Flo's

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

counterpart, Kitty, played by Holly Austin. In 2014, other recurring characters were added to the advertisements. Jim Cashman plays Jamie, Flo's sidekick. In 2020, another Progressive employee was added, Mara, portrayed by

Natalie Palamides Natalie Palamides (born January 6, 1990) is an American actress, comedian and writer. Early life As a young child living outside Pittsburgh, Palamides made comedic home videos in her backyard. She would do unit of action, bits in the corridors ...

Overview

Flo is a

cashier A retail cashier or simply a cashier is a person who handles the cash register at various locations such as the point of sale in a retail store. The most common use of the title is in the retail industry, but this job title is also used in the ...

and is recognizable by her extremely upbeat personality, brilliant white uniform, heavy

makeup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

, and retro hairstyle. According to Courtney, it takes one hour to prepare Flo's hair and another to apply her make-up. Referring to her work in

The Groundlings The Groundlings is an American improvisational and sketch comedy troupe and school based in Los Angeles. The troupe was formed by Gary Austin in 1974 and uses an improv format influenced by Viola Spolin, whose improvisational theater techniques ...

, she said, "Flo could be one of my improv characters, always on and sort of cracked in a weird way." She thinks that the

GEICO gecko The Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO ) is a private American auto insurance company with headquarters in Chevy Chase, Maryland. It is the second largest auto insurer in the United States, after State Farm. GEICO is a wholly owne ...

"puts out more sexual vibes than Flo does". In November 2014, Progressive aired its 100th advertisement featuring Flo and introduced other members of her family including her mother, father, brother, sister, and grandfather. All of these characters were also played by Courtney, who was reported to have spent about 12 hours doing hair and makeup transitions for the recording.

Reception

In October 2009, the ''

Boston Herald The ''Boston Herald'' is an American daily newspaper whose primary market is Boston, Massachusetts, and its surrounding area. It was founded in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States. It has been awarded eight Pulit ...

'' referred to Flo as "the commercial break's new sweetheart" and said Courtney was "attaining TV ad icon status". The same article also reported that she was the subject of a popular

Halloween costume Halloween costumes are costumes worn on Halloween, a festival which falls on October 31. An early reference to wearing costumes at Halloween comes from Scotland in 1585, but they may pre-date this. There are many references to the custom durin ...

. There are multiple websites and social media groups that are either dedicated to or talking about her. The volume of commercials and the type of humor is off-putting to others, described as "love her or hate her" or "badvertising". ''

Advertising Age ''Ad Age'' (known as ''Advertising Age'' until 2017) is a global media brand that publishes news, analysis, and data on marketing and media. Its namesake magazine was started as a broadsheet newspaper in Chicago in 1930. ''Ad Age'' appears in mul ...

'' described Flo as "a weirdly sincere,

post-modern Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of moderni ...

Josephine the Plumber who just really wants to help. She has; the brand is flourishing." This was later echoed in an article from Duane Dudek in the ''

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel The ''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'' is a daily morning broadsheet printed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it is the primary newspaper. It is also the largest newspaper in the state of Wisconsin, where it is widely distributed. It is currently o ...

'' on May 20, 2014, who credits Flo for inspiring a new trend of female commercial pitch people and cementing her legacy alongside Josephine and Palmolive Dishwashing Detergent's Madge the Manicurist. Flo was added as a downloadable character in the video game ''

ModNation Racers ''ModNation Racers'' is a 2010 go-kart racing video game developed by United Front Games and San Diego Studio for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable. User generated content is a central aspect of the game, such that it uses the same "Pla ...

'' in late 2010, complete with her own Progressive kart.

References

External links

* * {{Facebook Advertising characters Female characters in advertising Corporate mascots Fictional salespeople Mascots introduced in 2008 Progressive Corporation