Over the years I have developed weird crushes on actresses in commercials. At one point I was devoted to Flo from Progressive (Stephanie Courtney), which has waned a bit as she has matured, but I am delighted that she still has the role and I look at her with the fondness of a first love. I was absolutely bonkers for Morgan Smith - the redheaded Wendy’s girl around the time I got divorced. I now officially have a new commercial crush - Lindsay Foster aka Liberty Mutual Marsha. It’s literally just one commercial that I am compelled to pay attention to every single time it comes on. You know the one - the “struggling actor” has set up an online date with his “Phone-puter” and goes to meet Marsha, and they go for LaZagna and Cannoolis. I am smitten.
At least, the English-language one. For some reason, I also get served a lot of ads for Spanish-speaking Mama Kohl’s, who’s played by a different actress, and she does nothing for me.
Commercials do go for a certain look, cute, expressive, gorgeous, but still someone you could run into (but won’t) at the grocery store or dry cleaner. There’s nothing weird at all about developing a crush, except in a world that tries to sell the idea the height of feminine beauty is a fashion runway or red-carpet gala. There’s no shortage of contenders. I can think of a few that haven’t been mentioned yet.
I kinda wonder if there’s something similar at play with male commercial actors; handsome (but not so much as to be intimidating), and seemingly approachable.
I think for me it’s the combination of conventional beauty with quirkiness. I was devastated when I found out Morgan Smith’s red hair was dyed (she’s a blonde). With Marsha, the article I posted pinpoints the moment she had me: ‘when he asks if she is Marsha, responds with an “I am,” before immediately correcting herself: “I am.”’
Like many men my age, I had a celebrity crush on Brook Shields. The thing is, I never saw a Brook Shields movie. My exposure was limited to her Calvin Klein commercials.
