Aflac!
Aflac is a health insurance company. They are known for their commercials featuring their mascot, a Duck that can only say the company’s name, “Aflac!” and will say it during the commercials when people mention it as a Running Gag, and says it all the time at a moment’s silliness.Tropeflac!
- Actor Allusion:
- Gilbert Gottfried stars in one of the commercials As Himself, returning the duck to a pet store after complaining about how annoying it is. The joke being that Gottfried voiced the duck at the time. He would then trade him in for a parrot, also voiced by him.
- One the ads starring Deion Sanders features a marching band playing "Must Be the Money"
when he appears. Another ad has him summoning a buffalo (the mascot of University of Colorado-Boulder, the college he currently coaches for) to scare away the Gap Goat.
- Adam Westing: The barbershop commercial features Yogi Berra trying to explain what Aflac does, in his typical "Yogi-isms".
- Animal Athlete Loophole: Parodied one commercial, where the duck is driving Carl Edwards' stock car. His crew mentions how other drivers are complaining about Aflac giving him an advantage, because the duck's feathers are flying in front of their windshields.
- Animals Driving Cars: The NASCAR commercials usually feature the duck driving a stock car. How his webbed feet can reach the pedals is beyond anyone's guess.
- Art Shift: The Looney Tunes, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964), Toy Story 3, Up, and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish commercials are animated in the same animation styles as the respective media.
- Butt-Monkey: The duck definitely comes across as one in many of the commercials. Taken Up to Eleven in the Looney Tunes ad.
- Catchphrase: “Aflac!” of the duck.
- Celebrity Endorsement: Baseball legend Yogi Berra, NASCAR driver Carl Edwards (who was sponsored by Aflac), longtime college football coach Nick Saban, and NFL Hall of Famer turned college football coach Deion Sanders, have all appeared in different ads.
- Chained to a Railway: One commercial has the duck save a woman tied to a train rail while a train is fast approaching, in the style of a silent black and white film.
- Cool Car: Carl's Ford Fusion stock car. One ad has the duck take it for a joyride with a woman, and another ad has him modify the car by adding larger tires and low rider hydraulics.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: The Gap Goat first appeared in a 2007 commercial representing an unnamed insurance company. Unlike its later appearances, it just said "Naaah" when one employee ask about what policies it covers.
- Eat the Camera: The Aflac duck when snowboarding did this when he falls off the slope in "Snow Angel".
- Funny Animal: The Aflac duck. A live-action variant.
- Pokémon Speak: The Aflac duck can only say, "Aflac" as means of communication. His rival, the Gap Goat, also only says "Gaaap".
- The Rival: The Gap Goat, which represents other insurance companies that don't cover the same expenses as Aflac.
- Running Gag: The Aflac duck says the company name to get people's attention, which fills in other people about to say it themselves.