Lane Turner/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
Protester wearing an anti-Liberty Biberty shirt in Boston
A number of major insurance companies turn to mascots while peddling their services to the masses. That includes Liberty Mutual, which was treated to a protest outside of its headquarters in Boston courtesy of some people who are not thrilled with the arrival of Liberty Biberty.
Jingles and mascots are ubiquitous in the marketing efforts of the insurance industry to the point where one company based its entire brand on refusing to use either of them while attempting to court customers.
However, there are plenty of major players who’ve happily gone that route.
Geico has supplemented its trademark gecko with cavemen and an office-crashing camel, State Farm and Progressive have respectively managed to make Jake and Flo borderline celebrities, and Liberty Mutual has harnessed a multifaceted approach to its advertising.
Over the past few years, the last company on that list has leaned into the LiMu Emu (and Doug), and those spots supplemented a long-running campaign featuring actors engaging in various bits on a pier in front of the Statue of Liberty.
That included a fairly meta take on the formula featuring a self-proclaimed struggling actor who repeatedly flubbed his lines, including one where he referred to the company as “Liberty Biberty.”
That ultimately spawned a new mascot in the form of Liberty Biberty, which Liberty Mutual describes as “a real puppet about the size of a volleyball” meant to embody “the warm fuzzy feeling you get when you get great coverage at a great price.”
More than a few people have been viscerally triggered by Liberty Biberty, including some critics who went out of their way to stage a protest outside the company responsible for unleashing it upon an unsuspecting world.
Dozens of people showed up to an anti-Liberty Biberty protest in Boston
Earlier this month, John Oliver referred to Liberty Biberty as “a fuzzy testicle with teeth” while rallying against its arrival and existence on an episode of his show on HBO.
That segment aired a couple of days after Connor Harvey, a YouTuber known as “DimesAreTasty,” took aim at the mascot by announcing he was organizing a protest outside Liberty Mutual’s headquarters in Boston on the afternoon of Sunday, October 25th.
The video racked up hundreds of thousands of views, and The Boston Globe dispatched a reporter who covered the scene outside 175 Berkley Street on a day when Harvey referred to the gathering as “the next Boston Tea Party.”
Harvey streamed the protest on YouTube and said he was surprised at how many people showed up to join him in voicing their opposition. There was also a counterprotester, as a guy dressed up as a yellow version of the Statue of Liberty showed up to defend Liberty Biberty’s honor.
Truly magical stuff.