Did I just see the Aflac duck get electrocuted? Please, please stop me before I watch an “entertainment news” show again. There I was last night, pummeling a clove of garlic into pulpy submission, when the siren’s call of Pat O’Brien (oh, wait, he’s not back to The Insider yet, is he?). Anyway, maybe it was the siren’s call of that guy from Sugar Ray, who is now fronting another entertainment news show, which forced me to turn on the TV in the kitchen. Within seconds, I was wallowing in a sea of smarm masquerading as news. The topper was this bit of information: Melania Trump is set to star in a new Aflac commercial opposite the duck. The complex plot involves some Bride of Frankenstein-like switch of superbillionairess for duck, and to my eyes there appears to be a scene where the duck’s being electrocuted (quick, call PETA!). After I stopped thinking about how animal-rights activists might go a little nut-zoid over this commercial, I got to thinking about the frightening synergy of it all. Linda Kaplan Thaler, without whom there would be no Aflac duck, hosts a reality series called Making It Big, loosely patterned after Donald Trump’s The Apprentice. And in the very same week the show debuts, Trump’s wife shoots an Aflac commercial. Run for your lives! —Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

April 27, 2005 | Permalink

Comments

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I'm guessing, but there have been a bunch of "cow art" installations in various generic cities across the country in the past few years. The lifesize cows are fiberglass and painted, badly - and usually with overstated visual puns - by local artists. They are displayed outdoors and then auctioned off for charity. I was hoping that NYC was above this sort of thing but maybe not.

Posted by: Dave | Apr 27, 2005 5:27:31 PM

Yeah, I would guess its the cow parade as its called. When they arrive you can't wait till they leave. Tip one over for fun.

Posted by: Oskar | Apr 28, 2005 10:11:13 AM

Dave's comment about the cows is about right.They made their appearance here on the streets in Sydney,Australia some years ago and were part of a campaign.I cannot remember what the campaign was for,which does not say much for its memorability.

Posted by: Anthony Brauer | May 2, 2005 12:42:50 AM

NYC had the cow parade before, back in the late 1990s. I've been assuming this is a return of that program, but I'm not certain.

Posted by: FiftyNinth | May 8, 2005 11:08:21 AM

Should we all freak out over the commercials? Honestly who are these people kidding. Has our society come to the point where we can no longer enjoy clever advertising? Apparently there are people out there who are dumb enough not to realize that an animal would not be hurt in the filming of an ad. An AD agency would be hung out to dry if they did harm an animal. I highly doubt that there is a lawyer on retainer that would advise the mistreatment of animals. Now for people who say that children may get the wrong impression. First, focus on the parenting. It's a parents job to teach children, not the television. Second, people should know the difference between right and wrong.

Keeping this in mind, focus on the real problems.

Posted by: anonymous | May 18, 2005 4:46:20 PM

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