A few nights ago, I either heard on television or read somewhere that AFLAC was retiring their mascot duck from their now well-known television commercials. Upon hearing this, I nearly cried, because for some strange reason, I laugh my ass off when those commercials come on. I can’t explain it, but I LOVE the AFLAC duck. The funniest thing about it is seeing Steph’s reaction when I’m sitting there laughing at the duck and rewinding the DVR so I can watch the commercial again. She can’t really figure out why I seem to get such a kick out of it, but I just think it’s a genius line of TV commercials.
My favorite one might be the Yogi Berra one, but I think what got me hooked was a single moment in the very first AFLAC duck ad – and I challenge you to watch this and then tell me which moment about this particular ad that I find so ridiculously funny. There are plenty of others, too. This one has a couple of classic moments – particularly the duck walking down the street singing to itself and then flying through a wall. I’m telling you, each one of these ads has a moment of genius in it, if you really stop and pay attention. For example, go back to that Yogi Berra one and check out the duck standing in front of the hairstyle poster. Classic.
So I did some digging this morning and much to my delight found that AFLAC is not abandoning the duck, which is music to my ears!
Of course, with any popular mascot, inevitably there’s bound to be folks out there who try to latch onto the trend – name that annoying Geico lizard or whatever it is. And then there’s this, which explores the seedy undercurrent of animal mascots and their, uh, personal lives. Hearing the duck swear after sex is, admittedly, funny.