Aflac Reveals Gilbert Gottfried's Replacement in New Ad

By Kelly Fisher Posted Apr 27th 2011 08:20AM

Aflac revealed the new voice behind its famous quacking duck in a new ad Tuesday night, closing an unsettling chapter for the insurance giant.

According to E! Online, 36-year-old sales manager and father of three Daniel McKeague is the new voice behind the "spokesduck" for Alfac.

The company held a nationwide search earlier this year and McKeague, who lives in Minnesota, beat out 12,500 others hoping to quack their way onto TV. The new commercial premiered, fittingly, during NBC's 'The Voice.'

Alfac famously fired actor Gilbert Gottfried, who voiced the duck for the past 11 years, in March after he sent some not-so-funny tweets trying to make light of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami disasters.

"Gilbert's recent comments about the crisis in Japan were lacking in humor and certainly do not represent the thoughts and feelings of anyone at Aflac," Aflac Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Michael Zuna said in a statement at the time. "There is no place for anything but compassion and concern during these difficult times."

The company decided to hold a nationwide search to find a new voice for the duck, with a "silent movie" ad featuring a voice-less duck calling for submissions to fill the spot.

"Help me express myself by applying for a job as my new voice. Must be: caring, helpful, charming," the ad read.

Looks like McKeague fit the bill -- the duck bill, that is.

Comments

(9)

Wednesday 27 April

By BTDT

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I like Gilbert, but life goes merrily on.
Good luck to Mr. McKeague.

By Biscotti

I like that a regular guy got the gig, rather than another overpaid celebrity. Kudos to Aflac for letting that jerk Gottfried go, and for offering the job to an everyman.

By amiwright

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I doubt it.

By oldthudman

Yep!...Saw that ad the other night.........The new voice is awful...............

By D Wayne

the Aflac duck is dead to me now, serve him up!

yeah right, why not go black? they should have changed the duck too if they were getting a new voice. If Japan is 75% of their business, why not hire a Japanese guy/voice?