More Pointless Esurance Secret Agent Ads Are on the Way

(MoneyWatch)  The news that online insurer Esurance is to hire a new ad agency had my heart racing: Would America finally be delivered from the company's annoying animated ads, the ones with the pink-haired "secret agent" perpetually pursued by killer robots that can only be defeated by, er ... auto-insurance?

Alas, it is not to be. Esurance told Adweek its new agency, Duncan/Channon, is under orders to keep "Erin," its logic-free cartoon icon. The ads were previously handled in-house.

If, like me, you believe that Esurance's advertising is some sort of conspiracy to force everyone to buy ad-skipping DVR machines, you're in the minority. The fact is that most people love these commercials. A brief internet search finds pages and pages of fan mail addressed to the ads and their heroine. On YouTube, there are extended discussions about Erin's sex life. And don't search for images of Erin if you're reading this in the office -- the homemade results are alarmingly NSFW.

So, it looks like we're in for several more years of ads that don't make a lick of sense. Such as the one that advertised a song by Cloud Cult. The one that utilized a Bollywoodcasting call. And the one which starts off with Erin in the shower.