The New Aflac Duck Hails from the Town of Hugo, Minnesota

Hugo, Minnesota hadn't been in the news, or even heard of by many folks, until about 3 years ago, when a devastating tornado hit the town of less then 15,000, destroying over 50 homes and taking the life of a small child and injuring several others. Today, there's happier news coming out of Hugo. It was announced that the new voice of the famous "Aflac" duck hails from Hugo.

Dan McKeague, a sales manager for a Minneapolis radio station, and the father of 3 young children from Hugo, Mn. will replace the fired Gilbert Gottfried, as the new Aflac duck voice. Mckeague beat out over 12,000 other applicants, including celebrities like Jeff Foxworthy and Richard Lewis, for the job of new quacker for Aflac.

Gottfried, the former quacker for Aflac was the only other voice of the Aflac duck since it was introduced 11 years ago. He was the voice in more than 50 commercial ads for Aflac, and was recently fired by them after he was accused of making crude jokes on Twitter in the aftermath of the Japan earthquake and tsunami.

Japan is Aflac's most important market, deriving about 75% of its revenue from there. Needless to say Gottfried's senseless actions put both Aflac and his own job in jeopardy, giving Aflac no other choice but to fire him.

The "quack" of the new Aflac duck is said to be very similar to that of the former fired comedian, Gilbert Gottfried. McKeague's first 30 second commercial is ready to debut and will feature the duck breakdancing in a competition with a pigeon. A single prominent quack of the company's name is at the onset of the commercial. It will also air this week on the new NBC singing competition, "The Voice".

McKeague's compensation, though not disclosed, is said to be very lucrative. Dan McKeague has done local voice-over work in the past and decided to submit his audition online for the quacker job. He was a bit surprised, to say the least, when he got the call that he got the job as the new duck voice for Aflac.

Hugo, Minnesota, where McKeaque lives with his family, is a commuter town about 14 miles north of downtown St. Paul, Minnesota. Today, Dan McKeague, a former Hugo tornado victim, can be described as one lucky duck. All us fellow Minnesotans wish him well and hope he will keep that Aflac duck voice intact for many, many years.

Sources:reuters.com
wcconews.com