Wow, first the “I am a Mac” guy, then the Miller Man Law guys and now the Aflac duck? Say it ain’t so! According to a story in Advertising Age, the Aflac duck could be on his last webbed-foot. Seems the Aflac marketing folks don’t think the duck really represents what the company is all about, namely providing supplementary insurance. So they won’t be using him as much in future ads.
The story notes that the annoying avian has landed the insurer a phenomenal 85% brand awareness (the Holy Grail of marketing) in the past five years. Since 1999 the quacker has waddled its way into pop culture, with a cameo role in a feature film, “Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events,” and figuratively shared “The Tonight Show” couch with Ben Affleck in 2003, when the actor said: “That duck is goin’ down.” At the time the actor didn’t much like that his name was a little to close to the duck’s and some critics compared Affleck’s acting that of the duck. “Maybe the duck has an unfortunate accident,” said Affleck. “Auto, train, beheading – I’m sure he’s covered.”
