Who is Mara from Progressive and why does everyone hate her?

Mara is the character everyone loves to hate, the one who makes you want to reach through the screen and shake some sense into her. But who is she really? And why has she become the target of so much vitriol?

Mara is a fictional character played by comedian Natalie Palamides in a series of Progressive Insurance commercials. Palamides is a talented actress and comedian, known for her work on shows like Nate: A One Man Show and The Powerpuff Girls. But it’s her portrayal of Mara that has made her a household name – for better or worse.

While Palamides’ commitment to the bit is undeniable, not everyone is won over by her character’s shtick. A quick scroll through social media reveals a sea of anti-Mara sentiment, with viewers decrying her as “annoying”, “irritating”, and “the worst.”

What makes Mara so annoying?

Mara from #Progressive is horrid … here's a serious tweet, why must big companies make women commercial characters unlikable, annoying and such (Toyota last, Sprintern, Flo for years)? It's another way women are seen to not be taken seriously #Dateline #commercials

— Brad Milner (@TheBradMilner) March 14, 2020

Well, for starters, she’s annoying. She’s the kind of person who talks too loudly on the phone in public, cuts in line at the grocery store, and always seems to have a snide comment ready to go. It could be argued that in a world already oversaturated with ads, a character designed to be intentionally abrasive was always going to rub some people the wrong way. There’s also the fact that insurance is hardly the most thrilling of topics, so any attempts to liven it up with wacky characters like Mara are bound to feel a bit forced.

Others see Mara as a symptom of a larger problem in advertising: The tendency to create characters that are more irritating than endearing. From the Geico Gecko to Flo from Progressive (who, let’s be honest, is only slightly less annoying than Mara), insurance mascots seem to be in a race to see who can be the most grating.

So, you could make the case that the strong reactions Mara elicits are exactly what Progressive was going for. After all, in a crowded advertising landscape, sometimes being memorable is more important than being liked. And if the countless “I hate Mara” posts and memes are any indication, she’s certainly achieved that. 

Of course, there’s also the argument that Mara is just a fictional character and that getting worked up over her is a waste of time and energy. It’s not like she’s a real person who can actually hurt us…except maybe by convincing us to switch to Progressive and then subjecting us to more of her commercials.

At the end of the day, whether you love her or hate her, you have to give props to Palamides for fully embodying such a polarizing character. It takes guts to sign up to be the face of a national ad campaign knowing full well that a good chunk of the population will probably end up despising you. But hey, as they say in showbiz, there’s no such thing as bad publicity, right?

Who is Mara from Progressive and why does everyone hate her?
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