People Hate The ‘Liberty Biberty’
Liberty Mutual has gone too far with its latest ad campaign, and people are taking to the streets to protest it. While the general public often rallies behind commercials featuring popular actors or funny mascots, dozens gathered outside the headquarters of the insurance company to protest the existence of “Liberty Biberty.” I’m sad I missed this protest, but I’m totally down to show up for the next one. Led by YouTuber “DimesAreTasty”, people recently gathered in Boston in front of the Liberty Mutual headquarters to protest Liberty Biberty. Looks like the heat is officially off Limu Emu and Doug, because consumers decided they have bigger fish to fry.
In the words of the protest organizer himself, Liberty Biberty is a “nasty little pest” that was created by Liberty Mutual to “make the world worse.” While his original video was directed specifically at how the new creature is a disgrace to all corporate mascots, the protest itself seemed to consist of people who were annoyed by seeing ads for the company while they watched sports or streamed shows with a Prime subscription. Biberty is a fluffy yellow orb with piercing blue eyes, uncannily human teeth, and no nose, who’s a little bit too into insurance. The protest was only one day, but attracted dozens of people, and legitimate outlets like ABC News and others came out to cover the event. Unfortunately, I think the negative attention will only give Liberty Mutual more incentive to use the character, and maybe this all builds to a wild Super Bowl halftime ad. We shall see!
Liberty Biberty originally started as a joke in an older Liberty Mutual commercial, which featured an actor trying to say “Liberty Mutual” and instead saying “Liberty Biberty” instead. That character went on to do more commercials, with a running gag that he couldn’t correctly say Liberty Mutual. This gag evolved into a creature, which Liberty Mutual officially rolled out in July. The yellow fur ball was a puppet created in collaboration with the Jim Henson Workshop, so yes, I think that makes it a muppet. It’s unlikely it’ll be remembered as one of the best Muppets, but possibly the first to have a protest against it. There is a part of me that suspects that Liberty Biberty was made in part to be annoying. The more people are making videos and content online about how much they hate the Liberty Mutual mascot, the more the company gets its name out there. It’s not like having an annoying mascot is going to do much to impact the company’s legacy and how it sells insurance. Heck, this might be the most I’ve talked about insurance all year, so if that was the play by the marketing team, kudos to them for pulling it off.
Mascot Malevolence
The best mascot against racism? The panda!
He’s black.
He’s white.
He’s Asian!
What is the name of the TSAs mascot?
Frisky
One of the recent protestors was overheard talking to his girlfriend on his cellphone. “I am going over to get my unemployment check and then over to school to see if my Pell grant came through, and then get the food stamps and on the way back get my test results at the free clinic. We need to be back downtown at noon for the protest against the greedy establishment.”
A group of Native Americans was protesting outside the stadium, protesting team logo in their feathers and native garb, notes comedian Dennis Miller. “Unfortunately, it didn’t help their cause when after half an hour of chanting and marching, it began to rain.”
November 9th Birthdays
1988 – Nicki Blonsky, 1999 – Karol Sevilla, 1980 – Vanessa Lachey, 1979 – Emily Compagno
1972 – Eric Dane, 1934 – Carl Sagan, 1951 – Lou Ferrigno, 1942 -Tom Weiskopf