On March 14, 2011, Aflac severed ties with comedian Gilbert Gottfried, the quacking voice behind its popular television mascot, the Aflac Duck.
The dismissal occurred within hours after Gottfried tweeted a chain of tasteless jokes about the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The potential harm to Aflac's reputation from the tweets was particularly severe—as more than 70 percent of its income emanated from Japan.
How Aflac quickly and creatively responded to this massive reputational risk was an incredible achievement. Not only did Aflac avoid potentially disastrous financial losses, they turned the incident completely around into an incredible marketing opportunity.
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