Is the Aflac Duck Dead?
MARCH 16, 2011 TAGS:
Gilbert Gottfried, that crumpled face curmudgeon, has voiced the Aflac duck in TV commercials for years, but following a string of off-color tweets making light of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, the insurance company has fired the comedian as the voice of their spokesfowl. Aflac’s business in Japan accounts for around 75 percent of their worldwide revenue. So their sensitivity in this matter is understandable.
But questions about proper decorum linger after Gotfried’s ouster. When can you laugh at disaster, at tragedy? Is laughter at all helpful in processing events that defy esay conclusions.
The tweets themselves seem hardly the issue. Gotfried is, after all, a comedian, and his one-liners are more borscht belt than gallows humor. One tweet read:
I just split up with my girlfriend, but like the Japanese say, "They'll be another one floating by any minute now."
Another:
Japan is really advanced. They don't go to the beach. The beach comes to them.
Some jokes are far cruder—a full list of Godfried’s Tweets were compiled from Google Cache here, they were deleted from his Twitter account—but Gotfried’s dismissal points to a greater truth.
Too soon is too soon if you’re getting paid to endorse a product. An interesting wrinkle: the Aflac duck is voiced by a different actor in Japan. No offensive tweets have surfaced from that actor... yet.
But questions about proper decorum linger after Gotfried’s ouster. When can you laugh at disaster, at tragedy? Is laughter at all helpful in processing events that defy esay conclusions.
The tweets themselves seem hardly the issue. Gotfried is, after all, a comedian, and his one-liners are more borscht belt than gallows humor. One tweet read:
I just split up with my girlfriend, but like the Japanese say, "They'll be another one floating by any minute now."
Another:
Japan is really advanced. They don't go to the beach. The beach comes to them.
Some jokes are far cruder—a full list of Godfried’s Tweets were compiled from Google Cache here, they were deleted from his Twitter account—but Gotfried’s dismissal points to a greater truth.
Too soon is too soon if you’re getting paid to endorse a product. An interesting wrinkle: the Aflac duck is voiced by a different actor in Japan. No offensive tweets have surfaced from that actor... yet.
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