Aflac Looking For New Spokesduck

After Gilbert Godfrey made an ass of himself and made inappropriate comments about Japan in the wake of the massive earthquake, tsunami and unfolding nuclear emergency, the insurance company Aflac (and Japan's largest foreign insurer) canned him as the iconic voice of the duck that has featured prominently in their commercials for the past several years.

They have unveiled a clever recut of a commercial that originally ran in 2006 announcing a competition to find the next voice for the duck.

Anyone interested will be able to submit a 30-second audio or video file giving their best version of the Aflac duck’s signature “Aflac” squawk at quackaflac.com. The company wants to hear interpretations of the character that may be different from Gottfried’s, Zuna said.

A 2006 ad featuring the Aflac duck in a silent movie — without any dialogue at all — was re-edited to promote the talent search and will begin airing Wednesday. It points users to contest details on the Aflac Duck’s Facebook page.

Aflac is also posting a job description on Monster.com that includes the following job responsibility:

“Translates complex messages into a single word that tells people, ‘Aflac is the insurance company that they can count on in their time of need.’”

The submission deadline is midnight on April Fool’s Day. Aflac plans live auditions in six markets including New York and Los Angeles. It expects to air the first ad with the new voice, to be created by its longtime agency, The Kaplan Thaler Group, on April 22.

I'd say that this is making the best of a bad situation.