I admit, I didn’t used to “get” Liberty Mutual TV commercials. From the intelligence-insulting “Truth-Teller” ads, to LiMu Emu & Doug, to Zoltar and “Liberty Bibberty” and the utterly braindead “wet teddy bears” spot, I had always assumed that the people behind Liberty Mutual ads were trying to be funny and creative, but just kept missing the mark.
Alas, now I see the error of my ways.
And in retrospect, I failed to give Liberty Mutual and its ad agencies proper credit for what they’ve been trying to achieve.
But now, three years and a shedload of stupid ads later, I finally understand what these cynical, sadistic visionaries are aiming for — and it’s nothing less than a paradigm shift into the ultimate evolution of television advertising.
Or devolution, I should say.
Because Liberty Mutual’s ads give not a fig about story. Or relevance. Or about respecting or educating consumers. No.
Instead, Liberty Mutual TV commercials are leading the charge in reducing advertising to its most basic form: meaningless, inane content created solely for the purpose of repetition and name recognition.
The ads don’t need to be good, Dear Reader. They just need to be there.
Put another way: It’s not the ads that Liberty Mutual cares about. It’s the airtime.
Consider this: every time you watch TV, Liberty Mutual’s name pops up with some absurd scenario. The jingle plays, “Liberty, Liberty, Liiiberty, Liiiberty,” and whether you like it or hate it, you remember it.
This isn’t about crafting a narrative or delivering a message, or creating a memorable or enjoyable experience. It’s about name saturation.
All so the next time you need a quote for car insurance, Liberty Mutual is one of the companies you will remember to call.
It’s a cynical strategy, but Liberty Mutual seems to have decided that any form of recognition, even if it’s memorable only for being gratingly obnoxious, is good enough for them.
I was getting oh-so close to this realization back in 2019 when I wrote:
With the kind of money that Liberty Mutual is spending to carpet-bomb the airwaves with these ridiculous ads, the company could just as well run commercials that do nothing more than sing its stupid jingle for 15 or 30 seconds…
To illustrate my point, here are three recent Liberty Mutual ads for anyone lucky enough not to have seen them.
Below: Liberty Mutual’s 30-second LiMu Emu & Doug commercial, “Farmer.”
Below: Liberty Mutual’s 30-second LiMu Emu & Doug commercial, “Weird Dream.”
Below: Liberty Mutual’s 30-second Truth-Tellers commercial, “Wax.”
(And just like that, a new term — “branded idiocy” — has entered the advertising lexicon.)
Gee, I wonder: Given that this seems to be the new state of the art in TV advertising, where do you think the industry could possibly go from here?
I say advertisers may as well pull out all the stops and just go full retard.
You know, like Jaguar recently did.
Except that brands needn’t spend anywhere near that kind of money to produce an ad.
I mean, if it’s really true that all an ad has to be is an idiot sandwich (with a brand identifier at the beginning and end and a load of jackassery in the middle), then let’s just drop the formalities and do something like this:
Below: “Strange Faces and Noises I Can Make” by user UndoTube — a true piece of performance art created in the early days of YouTube.
Although the creator of this video describes his work as “the pinnacle of stupidity,” I would argue that his video is more engaging, entertaining, and laugh-out-loud funny than any ad Liberty Mutual has put out in the past six years.
Slap a logo on the bottom-right corner, cut the length to 30 seconds, add the “LIIIBERTY” jingle, and you’ve got yourself a Cannes Lion award winner right there.
Doesn’t that just about sum up the state of things, Cranky readers?
But, here’s the truth: You don’t have to let this idiocy win. You don’t have to sit by and do nothing as Liberty Mutual and other brands turn watching TV into a soul-sucking, exasperating chore.
Instead, you can tell these companies what you think. Speak loudly and clearly and make sure your voice is heard.
Reach Liberty Mutual on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/libertymutual/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/libertymutual/
X (formerly Twitter): https://x.com/libertymutual?lang=en
Corporate website (click the “Give us your feedback” link at the bottom of the page): https://www.libertymutual.com/
Tell them Cranky sent you, and for the love of God, do not reward this kind of advertising with a call for a quote.
In advertising as in all things, we get what we tolerate. Let’s hold brands accountable to do better than this.
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I’ve been following for about 18 months because you seem to be able to explain the various reasons for the current Stupid and Insulting Pandemic occuring in broadcast media. I really like how you called out the ad agencies and producers for their excuses for turning out tasteless drivel. However, if you ever wrote about the corporate executives that approve or OK this junk for public consumption, I missed it. Are they of the same mind as the ad agency leaders with their personal agendas to sway public opinion on social issues? Do they entertain one another from to time on their expense accounts? I assumed they were advertising to sell a product and it stopped there. As for their companies and products/services, I will vote with my feet until such people with their mindsets are in the unemployment line.
Liberty Mutual company has problems their excessive advertising will not solve.
In July 2025 I tried to get auto quote from Liberty Mutual over the Internet, but when their 3rd question was:
“We’re curious, do you have a cat or dog at home?” I immediately realized that it was just the beginning of the problems I might face with this company. I did not continue query.
Charging me 120 a month more than some other companies, they could at least offer free car wash once a month.
I had Liberty Mutual for my vehicles years ago, way before they started these stupid ads. I got a quote from another company that was $1,000 less a year. When we spoke with the LM agent about why they charged so much, he claimed they provided “better service”. I wouldn’t know about that because I never made a claim! For that, I should have gotten a good driver discount! Needless to say, I dumped them and never looked back.
Hey, Anonymous! Ouch, Liberty Mutual’s “better service” excuse sounds as lame as their idiot-sandwich ads! $1,000 cheaper elsewhere? Smart move ditching them. Thanks for sharing!
You are probably not the one, I had the same experience today.
looking at the way they avalanche Internet with deir advertising I came to conclusion they are desperate
and they rely on dummies who are too lazy to shop around.
These ads have the opposite affect on me. I refuse to buy Liberty Mutual insurance because of the commercials. Also I have not stopped at a Burger King since the “off key singers” commercials started.
Excellent. Vote with your dollars — and then be sure to tell these companies why they’ve lost your business via email or on social media.
I agree , so annoying. I worked there for 13 years and no discount. Country Way is better and less expensive.
And a further thought….LibbityBibbity is probably continuing this campaign because, Cranky, you know their creative and production costs are absolutely minimal, probably like a “Wayne’s World”. So all their advertising budgets can go to buying air time for this saturation. And who knows, maybe it is working for them. The world is getting more stupid every day.
Robert
Well, aren’t you just a ray of frigging sunshine? I agree with you 100%, by the way.
An example of The Dumbing Down of America. Loathe Liberty & would never be a customer of a company with that disrespect of their potential clients.
Absolutely! And America in 2025 has been very dumbed down.
Thank you thank you thank you. I can’t tell you how much these ads in particular piss me off for the reasons you mentioned above. I have a friend who loved these ads and I kept asking him…What’s the message? What is different about Liberty Mutual than any other insurance company? Why bundle? What does an emu have to do with insurance?
He can’t answer any of those questions. He just likes the emu.
Well, who doesn’t like “EMU?” I personally like them well cooked on the BBQ, with plenty of tangy tasting sauce…YUMMY!
Interesting take and I’d have to agree with you. Except Liberty Mutual would be the last insurance company I’d call. Not only from past experience I’ve had with them, but the commercials are a total insult to me. I can remember commercials back in the 60’s that told you a little bit about the product. And some memorable commercials came from that era. Also, I was a Radio-TV-Film major at college, had 12 hours of Advertising and Public Relations to round out my course of study. I remember the theory of positioning your product to appeal a certain segment of the population, something that takes some thought and finesse. But I guess civilization is well on to the way of “Idiocracy” so it isn’t necessary anymore.
Great comment and yes, we are well on our way to the Idiocracy.
Do you think it would really matter to Liberty if we carpet-bombed them with complaints? I think they would just pat themselves on the back and say, “Hey, it’s working!” And keep grinding out the poppycock.
Hi, Jim. You make an important point. Complaining only works so long as it’s accompanied by a drop in sales leads. Meaning, people need to stop rewarding Liberty Mutual with a call, email, or agent visit to get an insurance quote. The top brass will notice the drop in quote numbers first — then they’ll demand some answers. If that leads them to a barrage of negative consumer feedback about the ads, then and only then will they be likely to change their advertising.
Thanks for writing!
I never believed these irritating and unwanted Liberty Mutual commercials, with that NO talent jackass Doug, and the even worse “Emu,” could possibly get any more annoying, ridiculously stupid, and obnoxious… then along comes this excessively overplayed idiot in the “wax” TV commercial to prove me wrong!!! Gary
Oh, Gary. I feel your pain. May I ask, what do you watch that exposes you to so many Liberty Mutual commercials? We cut the cable years ago, so mercifully, we are spared from these atrocities. But while we had Spectrum TV, the frequency and level of idiocy were maddening!
Great post, superlative analysis! I shall absolutely bombard corporate with my offensive and critical comments, just as they bombard my living room with their crapola!
Thank you. Give ’em hell!
It’s sad. Can’t tell you the last time I’ve watched a commercial.🤔
And I skip them like an MF’er whenever possible. Among the platforms we use, I think YouTube is the worst. Starting up a video and seeing the ad timer set at 40 seconds is an instant no-go. Honestly, this can’t be good for content creators. It’s rare that I make it through an entire video anymore.
I worked for a major insurance company (Travelers) for 12 years. During that time, we almost never ran commercials, but still did very well. One time, some idiot had the idea to try to one up the stupid Geico, Liberty, State Farm, and Progressive commercials. The series featured rabbits and with one different color foot. I don’t even remember the reason or theme. They lasted all of a week or two. Then the company decided to create commercials that actually addressed the product we were selling. We had one that showed a family that had lost their home to a tornado and how they were well taken care.
To this day, I have no idea why these insurance companies need to try to “out funny”, oh wait, “out idiotic” each other with these moronic themes. Liberty Mutual is the worst. I would love to see the metrics around how consumers rate them
Your last paragraph, unfortunately, seems to be the general direction of our culture these days. Sad.
That’s a great story, JB. I love how your company quickly course-corrected its advertising to tell consumers how its product could help them. It seems so obvious, right? But as I say, creatives like to play and there is no longer any accountability in advertising.
Thanks for sharing!