Several dozen people gathered in front of Liberty Mutual’s headquarters in Boston Sunday afternoon, calling on the insurance company to stop running ads featuring its “Liberty Biberty” mascot.
The protest follows Connor Harvey, a 19-year-old YouTuber from Wilmot, N.H., who posted a video on his channel called “Death of Mascots,” where he expressed his distaste for the fuzzy yellow puffball and jokingly called on people to protest the company’s headquarters in Boston.
Once the video gained tens of thousands of views, he posted a follow-up video with an “official announcement” for the Liberty Biberty Boston protest, which drew over 600,000 views, and linked to a Facebook post to gauge interest.
In the announcement, Harvey asked people to bring friends and signs to the insurance company’s national headquarters. Harvey said that the protest would be peaceful, and if the company asked them to leave, they would oblige.
“I am on their property right now, and if they want me to disperse, we’ll do so. But until then, we’re here,” Harvey said.
Liberty Mutual didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The mascot has been talked about on every corner of the internet. From TikTok to late night, it seems everyone has feelings about Biberty. When Harvey took to YouTube, he found his viewers agreed with his criticism of the mascot’s appearance.
Harvey drove down from New Hampshire with a few people wearing matching sweatshirts with the text that read “I HATE LIBERTY BIBERTY,” and a picture of the mascot crossed out. Harvey said he was not expecting so many people.
“This is a revolution, this is the next Boston Tea Party,” said Harvey. “This is to take down Liberty Biberty here on Liberty Mutual’s Headquarters.”
The crowd ranged in age, from young kids to middle-aged parents. Some people wore masks, shirts, or other attire to mock the fuzzy fella and carried signs with phrases like “Liberty from Biberty.”
One young kid yelled, “This has to be the most unemployed thing ever.” Another said, “I am against AI, but this is much worse; this is the worst thing a human can create.”
Cars passing by honked their horns in support, and Harvey live-streamed the event on his YouTube channel, pulling in 200 to 350 consistent viewers for the hourlong protest. During his stream, Harvey walked up to his supporters and asked them to share their hatred for the puppet, or the story behind their signs.
An overarching theme was the juxtaposition between older mascots, which protesters said were fun, exciting, and memorable, and new mascots, which protesters said were strange, boring, and aired on TV so often that they became hated. Harvey said Tony the Tiger of Frosted Flakes fame was a lovable character who excited people and got them to engage with the product, while creations like Liberty Biberty are less inspiring.
“The insurance world has a lot of mascots,” says protester Hunter Crossman, of Worcester. “State Farm’s got Jake, there’s the Geico Gecko. That’s a classic, and Liberty’s just kind of clawing, grasping at straws, trying to find something.”
Crossman didn’t like Biberty or the company’s other mascots, LiMu Emu and Doug, since both were “really annoying commercials,” but if he had to pick one, he’d settle for LiMu Emu.
Not everyone hates Liberty Biberty. Calvin Holmes came to the protest dressed up as the mascot, donning yellow face paint, a skirt, and a feathered scarf; he also wore the Liberty hat. Some of the protesters yelled at Holmes for supporting the mascot.
“Someone needs to bear this pain because everyone here is discriminating against this puffball for how he was born, and that’s not okay. We all need to be body positive, and he’s a beautiful freak,” said Holmes.
Amanda Maguire, Harvey’s mom, said this was a chance for young people to do “low-stakes” civic engagement.
“I think it’s a way to make community,” Maguire said. “This is amazing. It’s also fun in a world right now where not much is fun, if we can gather around the hatred of a yellow ball, whatever. It’s not a person.”
Sam Shipman can be reached at sam.shipman@globe.com.