Thanks to whomever let me know the Aflac people found their new duck.
My bets were totally wrong, but I wonder if they are re-recording all the previous commercials. (If Gottfried's contract stated that his voice would be used as the duck, etc, he makes money on the old commercials when they are aired. If the new actor replaces the old voice overs, Aflac will not have to pay Gottfried if they choose to re-run the more successful older commercials.)
I also wonder how long this will hold - has the duck lost popularity?
There is a video link at the bottom of the article. Click to hear the new duck.
Read/watch and respond.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/04/26/2011-04-26_aflac_ducks_new_voice_radio_exec_dan_mckeague_replaces_gilbert_gotfried_fired_fo.html?r=news/national
The comment the previous voice actor made was terrible, and Aflac had every right to fire him. However, I'm surprised anyone even noticed, considering all he did was quack a few times for a commercial. It isn't like the guy is a huge celebrity.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to the new voiceover, I think they'll only re-record for a select few commercials. Commercials don't really have a "rewatchability" after a certain run, so most of the commercials with the old voice actor have probably stopped airing anyway. The select few popular or recent ones with the voice will probably get re-recorded. Beyond that, they will probably just focus on new commercials.
The duck's popularity probably won't change drastically due to the new voiceover, but scandals do bring in views. A slight increase in interest seems plausible, but not a major leap.
I think that the change of commercials and publicity for Aflac will change maybe a little bit, if any. What Gottfried said was a terrible thing to say he deserves to be fired. The main reason i don't think that much will change for the company is because people do not know the actor the just know the duck. Also i doubt people will think about it more than 5 minutes about how they heard a different voice come out of that ducks mouth.
ReplyDeleteThe change was clearly necessary if Aflac ever wanted to record another commercial. Morally as well as socially it would be very wrong to continue to pay someone who is not sorry for committing heinous actions. It did not appear that he was sorry and therefore, someone else deserves the part. It was not too difficult a task to choose a new voice as new commercials would need to be recorded at some point. All in all, it is not too big a deal and seemed somewhat necessary.
ReplyDelete