Consumer Perception of Progressive Takes a Tumble

Progressive Insurance’s mid-August social media-driven controversy has brought the company to its lowest U.S. consumer perception level in more than four years, a research firm said on Aug. 29.

The consumer perception was measured by YouGov, an internet-based market research firm that tracks public perceptions of major corporate brands. YouGov asked 2,500 adult respondents: “If you’ve heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, through advertising, news or word of mouth, was it positive or negative?” YouGov continuously tracks consumers’ perception of Progressive and other major insurers at regular intervals.

A recent car accident court case, publicized through social media sites like Tumblr and Twitter, seems to have generated enough bad publicity to accelerate Progressive’s decline sharply, the research firm said.

The controversy stemmed from insurance coverage for Kaitlynn Fisher — she was a Progressive policyholder who died in an auto accident when her car was struck by an under-insured driver in Baltimore in 2010. Her story quickly went viral when her brother Matt posted a story on his Tumblr blog on Aug 13.

His sister held a policy with Progressive that included Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist coverage, he wrote.

But his allegation that Progressive defended the other driver during a trial to lower the company’s liability sparked a social media-driven protest against the giant insurer.

rogressive disputed Matt Fisher’s story and asserted that its lawyers didn’t defend the other driver who was eventually found to be at fault by the court. On Aug. 16, Progressive announced it reached a settlement with the Fisher family.