Progressive’s Dr. Rick kicks off 2024 with therapy for pack rats

Year eight of the Dr. Rick campaign from Progressive Insurance kicks off with more amusing parentamorphosis—or as psychologists term it, parental introjection—as Rick assembles a group of pack rats at a dumpster and gets them to toss out some of the worthless garbage they’re holding on to. Rick’s trademark humor is in fine form as he admonishes parent-like behavior such as hoarding tissue box covers and butter containers. “Despite the fact that Dr. Rick is a fake doctor, and that parentamorphosis is a fake affliction, the key to this campaign is and always has been capturing the truth,” said Sean McBride, chief creative officer of Arnold. “A good one should make a viewer go ‘Haha, my mom does that,’ or worse, ‘Uh-oh, I totally do that.’ So it’s a delicate dance between dreaming up characters that are totally new and pretty absurd, and reflecting back real life as honestly as possible.” McBride said the new spot hits close to home. “In fact, I’ve got a pile of ‘perfectly good’ scraps of wood gathering dust in the basement right now,” he said. “I’ll never use it. But what am I supposed to do, just throw it away?” The new spot follows an installment last month (see below) that starred LL Cool J.

Progressive’s Dr. Rick kicks off 2024 with therapy for pack rats

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