October 29, 2026, 8:26 p.m. ET
“We’ve had enough. We’ve had enough. We’re not interested.” That’s how a protester described Liberty Mutual Insurance Group’s new mascot, Liberty Biberty, during a demonstration outside the company’s Boston headquarters on October 25.
Liberty Mutual introduced this bright yellow plush ball featuring a Statue of Liberty crown in July. However, this has sparked debate online in recent weeks, with many expressing their displeasure with the puppet.
Connor Harvey, 19, of Wilmot, New Hampshire, known on YouTube as DimesAreTasty, organized the protest and led several chants, including: “Who do we want? » “Freedom Biberty!” “How do we want it?” “Dead!”
About 100 people participated in the protest, Harvey told USA TODAY, holding handmade signs that read: “If you give me Biberty, give me death” and “Liberty Biberty is fascism.”
What is Liberty Biberty?
Introduced in July, Liberty Biberty is Liberty Mutual’s new mascot. The handmade mascot, created by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, is a bright yellow ball of fluff with blue eyes, wearing the Statue of Liberty’s crown. Liberty Biberty “embodies the warm, fuzzy feeling of getting great coverage and big savings on auto insurance,” according to a press release from Liberty Mutual.
Liberty Biberty is the company’s first new mascot in eight years, since the introduction of LiMu Emu and Doug in 2019.
The name “Liberty Biberty” comes from a 2019 Liberty Mutual commercial in which an actor struggles to pronounce the company name. Over the years, several Liberty Mutual advertisements included incorrect pronunciation. In fact, the actor from the popular 2019 commercial even meets Liberty Biberty himself, where the two argue over which one came first.
Why don’t people like Liberty Biberty?
The “why” behind the dislike of Liberty Biberty differs from person to person. Some think the puppet mascot is scary, while others think Liberty Biberty represents a deeper problem in modern advertising.
Speaking to USA TODAY on Oct. 29, Harvey described Liberty Biberty as the pinnacle of “enhittifcation,” used to describe the degradation of the quality and experience of digital platforms in order to increase profits.
“They (Liberty Mutual) took a joke from a 2019 commercial that people were already unsure about — in my personal opinion, it was never funny even when they aired it — and they blew it to the ground,” Harvey said. “They ran it into the ground before they even had this puppet. The fact that they just took this one-liner from a commercial and turned it into this yellow thing is just weird; it’s lazy. They’re not trying.”
Liberty Biberty, Harvey said, is like Subway creating a broccoli mascot and naming it “Eat Fresh,” the chain’s slogan.
One person even chose to embody their disdain for the mascot with a tattoo, which has since gone viral online. Done by Maddie Paris Rota of DarkArt Tattoo Collective in Phoenix, the tattoo depicts Liberty Biberty being put through a meat grinder.
“I still can’t believe I got to tattoo this design yesterday,” Rota wrote in the post’s caption.
Several Facebook groups dedicated to defaming Liberty Biberty have also appeared, including a “Liberty Biberty hate group” with approximately 431 members and “Americans Against Liberty Biberty.”
“The ads are the stupidest I’ve ever seen. I can’t imagine they would pay a marketing group for this swill. I would never consider this company insurance after all this nonsense,” one Facebook user posted in “liberty biberty hate group.”
Earlier in October, late-night TV host John Oliver even made fun of Liberty Biberty.
“While this show is clearly considered to be puppet-friendly, let me be clear, not this one because I hate that thing,” Oliver said during his segment. “Right there is a fuzzy testicle with teeth. It looks like the paralyzed sleep demon from Big Bird. The very name, ‘Liberty Biberty,’ sounds like what the devil would shout in tongues to announce his arrival on Earth. I don’t think it’s a good sign that my first reaction to this ad was less, ‘Maybe I should change insurers,’ and more, ‘Is it technically murder if the Is something already dead behind the eyes?'”
Ultimately, however, much of the hatred against Liberty Biberty is rooted in humor. Harvey said he thinks people like to gather around something that doesn’t really matter, which is a good distraction from everything else going on in the world.
Not everyone hates Liberty Biberty
Although countless consumers are taking to social media to share their disgust at the new mascot, some are fans of the fluff ball, including 6-year-old Finn Walker of Texas.
In a Facebook post on October 21, Emily Walker, Finn’s mother, shared a photo of her son in a handmade Liberty Biberty costume. The post quickly went viral, and as of October 29, it had over 8,000 likes. Walker said that before she knew it, someone who spotted the post had shared it with a friend who works at Liberty Mutual, who then connected with the Walkers to send Finn-branded products.
“She made the merch possible for Finn, and we’ve been in contact several times since we were initially connected with her,” Walker said. “We are very grateful, as are his parents, and he is just thrilled that people enjoy his costume as much as he does.”
On October 28, Walker shared two new photos of Finn surrounded by his Liberty Mutual products, including four Liberty Biberty plush toys, two LiMu Emu plush toys, five pairs of Liberty Biberty socks, three Liberty Biberty t-shirts and other LiMu Emu products.
And Walker isn’t the only one getting ready for a Liberty Biberty-inspired Halloween. Content creator Madison Davis created her own Liberty Biberty costume and a TikTok video showing it off. His video had been viewed more than 818,000 times as of October 29.
“Not all angels can walk the (Victoria’s Secret) runway, some of us DIY Liberty Biberty,” Davis wrote.
What does Liberty Mutual say about this speech?
Liberty Mutual is closely monitoring the wide range of reactions and opinions regarding Liberty Biberty, Jenna Lebel, chief marketing officer, told USA TODAY on Oct. 29.
“Biberty is unexpected by design, with a look and personality that is undeniably his own. We are encouraged by how strongly people engage with him, whether they like him or feel different,” Lebel said, adding that the mascot tested above average in attention and brand attribution in independent testing.
“It’s been fun to see the creativity and conversation that Biberty’s introduction has inspired. At the same time, it’s not just about generating attention. It’s about building a brand that people recognize, remember and trust.”
Greta Cross is a national trends reporter at USA TODAY. An idea for a story? Send him an email to gcross@usatoday.com.
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