Several dozen people gathered outside Liberty Mutual’s headquarters in Boston on Sunday afternoon to demand that the company stop running ads featuring its Liberty Biberty mascot. The protest turned the insurer’s national headquarters into the target of a noisy, online-fueled backlash.
The push came from Connor Harvey, a 19-year-old YouTuber from Wilmot, N.H., who spent days building attention with a video called Death of Mascots and a follow-up announcement that drew more than 600,000 views. He linked to Facebook to gauge interest, asked people to bring friends and signs, and told them the gathering would stay peaceful. “I am on their property right now, and if they want me to disperse, we’ll do so. But until then, we’re here,” he said.
Harvey drove down from New Hampshire with a few people wearing matching sweatshirts that said I HATE LIBERTY BIBERTY and showed a crossed-out picture of the mascot. He said he had not expected so many people to show up. “This is a revolution, this is the next Boston Tea Party,” he said. “This is to take down Liberty Biberty here on Liberty Mutual’s Headquarters.”
The crowd ranged from young kids to middle-aged parents, and some wore masks, shirts or other attire meant to mock the character. Signs included lines such as “Liberty from Biberty,” while cars passing by honked in support. Harvey also live-streamed the event on YouTube, saying the feed drew 200 to 350 consistent viewers during the hourlong protest, and he moved through the crowd asking supporters to explain their signs or their dislike of the puppet.
Not everyone there was against the mascot. Calvin Holmes arrived dressed as Liberty Biberty, with yellow face paint, a skirt, a feathered scarf and the Liberty hat, a small counterpoint in a protest built around ridicule. Others framed the fight as a broader complaint about mascots in advertising, with Hunter Crossman of Worcester saying, “The insurance world has a lot of mascots,” and adding that State Farm’s Jake and the Geico Gecko were classics, while Liberty was “clawing, grasping at straws” and making “really annoying commercials.”
The protest has put a marketing campaign in front of the company’s headquarters and in front of an online audience, but the question now is whether Liberty Mutual changes anything. The company did not immediately respond to requests for comment, leaving the fate of Liberty Biberty’s ads unresolved after the crowd went home.
