How One Crazy Insurance Claim Became A National Advert

A freak insurance claim has been turned into a successful ad campaign because it involved a naughty dog, a birthday cake, and a fire that, luckily, didn’t injure anyone.

A dog called Skyler tried to help himself to his 1-year-old master’s birthday cake, left on top of the stove. Skyler accidentally turned the stove on as he stood on his back legs to reach the cake, and managed to set the cake on fire instead of getting chance to eat it.

The fire didn’t hurt Skyler or his family, but it did catch the attention of Farmers Insurance, who decided to turn it into a light-hearted advert to stress the unpredictability of life – and therefore the great value of good insurance.

When the initial accident happened, in Hastings in the US, insurance agent Katy Lindberg thought it was so strange and unique that she told Farmers Insurance about it. Farmers Insurance had asked their agents to let them know about any unusual or amusing claims they came across.

As a result, Skyler’s adventure has now been immortalised in an advert for Farmers Insurance – sort of.

In the advert, a dog is trying to reach some pizza which is sat on top of a stove in a kitchen. As he reaches it, he accidentally sets the pizza box on fire, and runs out of the house as the room explodes behind him.

Although the real-life incident must have been quite stressful for the family involved, the insurance agent insists that the family are absolutely fine with the advert and think it’s a funny way to look at the situation.

Among the other weird and wonderful claims Farmers Insurance have handled are the case of the moose which got its antlers caught in a swing set, and in thrashing around so much to get free it damaged a customer’s mobile home which was parked nearby.

In other wildlife-related claims, a deer damaged a brand new car by leaping out and dancing across the bonnet, and another wrecked a swimming pool by falling in and then destroying most of it while trying to get out.

A bear broke into a house and ransacked it, and another bear broke into a garage to reach a freezer full of steak. A runaway horse towing a buggy caused damage to cars, and a rat the size of a kangaroo wrote-off a car that was unfortunate enough to hit it.

Dogs were responsible for even more damage to one customer’s home after they turned the kitchen tap on and managed to flood the house. When their owners came back, they found the dogs having a great time in the water.