# Again with the annoying commercials! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** commercials-ads\ **Created:** [June 28, 2017, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089 "2017-06-28T22:06:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 377
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2026, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089/7529 "2026-07-22T20:00:54Z")
Well, he sounds hideous. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2026, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089/7530 "2026-07-22T20:12:54Z")
So the celebrity bartender there is famous only for a one-time appearance in an insurance company commercial? ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2026, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089/7531 "2026-07-22T20:30:32Z")
Nah, only his khakis is a celebrity. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2026, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089/7532 "2026-07-25T22:56:01Z")
Any commercial with Doug and the emu. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@salinqmind1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind1)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2026, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089/7533 "2026-07-26T14:09:26Z")
I like the emu when the emu behaves just like …an emu. Doug, not so much. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2026, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089/7534 "2026-07-26T18:49:38Z")
Just wait til you see Bibberty. Liberty’s new "_thang"._ The GEICO Gekko is positively benign. 🫣 ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2026, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089/7535 "2026-07-26T18:58:23Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Just wait til you see Bibberty. Liberty’s new "_thang"._ They first did that bit some years ago, with a guy playing a knucklehead actor/spokesman who couldn’t get his lines right, and at one point, called the brand “Liberty-Bibberty.” They brought him back a couple of months ago, in an ad which depicted a “meet-cute” moment for him with a similarly-dumb female character, who also says “bibberty.” Cute the first time, but stupid. However, it’s probably “sticky” in the brain, which is what they shoot for. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2026, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089/7536 "2026-07-26T19:08:39Z")
No, no, no. There’s a character now. They are calling it Bibberty. It’s kinda of a floofy yellow marshmallow thing. I heard one of the kids saying “aww, I want one” Noooooooooooooo! 😱 ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2026, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089/7537 "2026-07-26T19:09:26Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > No, no, no. There’s a character now. They are calling it Bibberty. > > It’s kinda of a floofy yellow marshmallow thing. Ohh, lordy. I haven’t seen that yet. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2026, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089/7538 "2026-07-26T19:11:09Z")
Makes you wonder what kind of shitty ideas they rejected before they said, “_this_ is a winner!” ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2026, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089/7539 "2026-07-26T19:18:26Z")
I can see them in a board room saying we gotta “up” this game. And looking at ideas. I’d hate to be on the carpet with a cute, but intrusive character to foist on the world. I think I might’ve done better than this thing. Looks like who came up with it was in the toy aisle for a good long time. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2026, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089/7540 "2026-07-26T19:26:08Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I can see them in a board room saying we gotta “up” this game. Liberty Mutual used to do solid, non-goofy advertising. I think that they decided they needed to adapt, in order to compete against Geico, Progressive, etc., so they leaned into funny/goofy/bizarre. I have the sense that their main goal for their TV ads is to be memorable and generate buzz, and that they have decided that they don’t care if it’s good or bad buzz. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2026, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089/7541 "2026-07-26T19:29:05Z")
[Here](https://www.ispot.tv/ad/g4gU/liberty-mutual-liberty-biberty-tell-everyone) is _one_ of Liberty Mutual’s commercials featuring the “Liberty Biberty” spokesthing. They have several ads featuring this thing and I saw one in which the dumb actor dude appeared. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2026, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089/7542 "2026-07-26T19:46:50Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > [Here](https://www.ispot.tv/ad/g4gU/liberty-mutual-liberty-biberty-tell-everyone) is _one_ of Liberty Mutual’s commercials featuring the “Liberty Biberty” spokesthing. That’s a “thing,” all right. As an advertising strategy guy, who’s worked in P&C insurance, I’ve not really been that impressed with Liberty’s “goofy” ads. I suppose that the ads do what they are looking for (build top-of-mind awareness, and make them come across as “not stuffy”), but they do very little to communicate “why choose Liberty Mutual?”, other than basic cost-of entry benefits for the category (bundle and save, you can switch and save, etc.), which everyone touts. It may well be that Liberty realizes that they don’t really _have_ any strong points of differentiation against State Farm, Geico, Progressive, etc., and so, they’re just doing funny ads. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2026, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089/7543 "2026-07-26T20:10:45Z")
About the only point of differentiation an insurance company can have is price. And given that most insurance companies’ budgets go mostly to marketing, the only way to lower prices is to decrease the amount of advertising. Which leads to NJM blanketing the ether with hundreds of commercials featuring as many jingles and mascots, touting how they have no jingles or mascots. ---
**Author:** ![De\_La\_Rue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@De\_La\_Rue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/De_La_Rue)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2026, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089/7544 "2026-07-26T20:13:31Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > the “Liberty Biberty” spokesthing Wait a minute, that’s clearly a decapitated [Honey Monster](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey_Monster_Puffs)! ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2026, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089/7545 "2026-07-26T20:14:43Z")
I think Allstate’s Mayhem ads do a good job of showing the necessity of insurance, though not necessarily theirs. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2026, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089/7546 "2026-07-26T20:26:22Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > About the only point of differentiation an insurance company can have is price. Yes and no. While the industry has encouraged people to shop on price, customer service is also a big differentiator, and experiencing poor customer service from your current insurer is a big reason why people switch. Having local agents is part of that for some people, as well as 24/7 availability (which is what the original “Jake from State Farm” ad was about). It’s only fairly recently that Geico started having local agents, at all, and historically, they were often criticized by customers for poor customer service. Progressive regularly features their comparison shopping tool, which makes it easier for prospective customers to compare rates. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2026, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089/7547 "2026-07-26T21:10:31Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Progressive regularly features their comparison shopping tool, which makes it easier for prospective customers to compare rates. I often wonder about that. If there is some other company with lower rates, it’d be easy enough to just not show that company in the list. And if a company that did no advertising at all, and passed the savings from that on to customers, were in Progressive’s comparison tool, then that company would get a lot of business from that. So do they just restrict the comparison to other companies with similar or higher prices? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2026, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089/7548 "2026-07-26T21:13:49Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I often wonder about that. If there is some other company with lower rates, it’d be easy enough to just not show that company in the list. And if a company that did no advertising at all, and passed the savings from that on to customers, were in Progressive’s comparison tool, then that company would get a lot of business from that. So do they just restrict the comparison to other companies with similar or higher prices? It’s been a while since I looked at that tool of theirs, but my recollection is that (a) it only shows the rates for other major companies, and (b) Progressive has, at least in the past, claimed that they will not always be the lowest on that comparison tool. I think that they use it to demonstrate that they were making shopping for insurance easier (and remember that the original “Flo” campaign showed how shopping for insurance with Progressive was as easy as shopping at a retail store), and that they were demonstrating transparency and building trust by not being deceptive in their pricing in that comparison tool. Also, “which insurance company has lower rates” is extremely variable, based on where you live, what cars you drive, how much you drive, your gender and age, etc. That’s why every insurance company can say, “drivers who switched to us saved an average of $X;” for all of the major carriers, there are _some_ drivers for whom that company does have the lowest rates. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089.md?page=376) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089.md?page=378)