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Interviewer: The Aflac duck is a Balloonicle, can you tell me something about Balloonicles?
Man: Well, the Aflac duck is joining the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade for its 85th Anniversary
as a very special character. Now, everybody knows we have balloons in the parade, because
we have since 1927. But the Aflac is a balloonicle. All of the balloons need marchers underneath,
holding strings to be lead down the parade route. Now the Aflac duck, he’s coming down
the parade route all on his own, under his own power. There’s a little bit of Macy
magic involved, but I can tell you the secret. There’s actually a vehicle inside the inflatable,
and when it’s assembled, the inflatable inflates, over and around the vehicle and
the driver, so they’re actually inside the balloon, driving it down the parade route.
But the Aflac duck has a giant toboggan, 28 feet long, and more than 8 feet wide. I made
a calculation, and I figured, on that toboggan, you could probably fit about 73 insurance
men, or one giant duck, and we’ve opted for the second. He’s standing so tall, he’s
35 feet tall, and he has a beautiful argyle holiday scarf that’s blowing in the wind
as he comes sailing over the snow on his toboggan…Balloonicle Aflac Duck for 2011.
Interviewer: I think the Balloonicle is great, is there any reason you chose a balloonicle
over a balloon, or if there isn’t, that’s ok?
Man: You know, when we were in the designs of this thing, of course we always do research
on the characters, and we had to check with the duck personally, and we said, you know,
balloon, or balloonicle? And he said, “Aflac!” And we said, “Balloon, or Balloonicle?”
“AFLAC!” “You mean Balloonicle?”
“Aflac.”