There has been much ado about the recent tweets of Gilbert Gottfried, one of the most caustic comedians on the standup circuit today.   As a result of a series of morbid jokes about the Japanese earthquake, Gottfried was fired as the voice of the popular Aflac spokesduck.

The question facing Aflac is whether it has killed off an advertising and marketing icon rather than face the fact that Gottfried makes his living insulting people.  It was inevitable that he would offend because that is his comic niche.  Aflac executives should have known what they bought when they first hired him.

The fact that Japan is Aflac’s largest market is no coincidence.  So the company became oversensitive when Gottfried’s tweets became public.  By firing him, Aflac created a tempest in a teapot and brought greater attention to his unfortunate words.  The action preceded any real public response to Gottfried’s ill-timed tweets, which only underscores the haste of Aflac’s decision.

From a public relations perspective, a tweeted apology probably would have made it all go away, but corporate panic mode apparently trumped reason in the decision.

Few Americans recognized the Aflac brand before the duck hit the television airwaves a decade ago.  With Gilbert gone, will anyone remember Aflac a decade from now?

By David Stiefel