Ben Affleck is no stranger to a viral moment, whether or not he’s done it purposefully. There was his Sad Affleck era, and that time he started a trend relating to Spanish words. And, of course, all those Dunkin paparazzi photos that led to him being a face of the donut chain. Now, Affleck is going viral again, and this time it’s because he’s been taking up the art of graffiti.
Last week, Los Angeles residents started taking notice of tons of Aflac ads around the city being tagged “Ben Affleck”. After the culprit was revealed to be Ben Affleck himself by TMZ on Tuesday with photographic evidence. And now the people behind the ad have explained what’s going on: Affleck and Aflac are teaming up for a big ad campaign. Per the co-president of advertising at Artists Equity, Brandon Pierce:
What started as a coincidental word play ended up being a true connection between an iconic brand and an iconic man. Up until this point, Affleck and Aflac have just been two ships passing in the cultural night. We saw this as a once in a lifetime opportunity to bring the low hanging fruit to life by creating an authentic campaign that’s just downright entertaining, and will feel to audiences like, ‘Wait, how has this never existed before?’ when it hits the airwaves.
Artists Equity is a production company founded by longtime collaborators Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. They’ve been behind a ton of Dunkin’ ads in recent years, and now they’re working with the insurance company, Aflac. The big brand campaign has officially started with Affleck’s graffiti moment, and according to The Hollywood Reporter, it will extend into next summer. Aflac’s senior VP and CMO Garth Knutson also commented on the collaboration with these words:
Americans have been making the connection between Aflac and Affleck for years. Some ideas require a leap of imagination. This one was sitting right in front of us. We think consumers are going to love it, but more importantly, we hope it inspires millions of Americans to take a fresh look at Aflac and the ways we can help with expenses health insurance doesn’t cover.
Ben Affleck has commented on being frequently associated with Aflac before, to which he clarified there’s no relation. However, the insurance company’s viral commercials sound like they’ve sort of haunted him for years. As he recalled in 2022: “imagine what it’s like when you’re on an airplane and the hammered lady behind you recognizes you and she’s gonna do her best Gilbert Gottfried for six hours on the way to New York”.
He also said it’s been his “cross to bear” and he “would like a discount.” Now, he’s working with the company directly. (It was only a matter of time, right?)
We wonder how the campaign will play around with Ben Affleck’s past experience with Aflac, and its shrieking duck of a mascot. I mean, the Aflac commercials are so popular it’s almost impossible to hear Affleck’s name without hearing the Aflac duck in one’s head.
Otherwise, Ben Affleck has an upcoming film on the 2026 movie schedule called Animals. It’s a crime thriller where Affleck plays a mayoral candidate whose son gets kidnapped. It co-stars Gillian Anderson, Kerry Washington, Steven Yeun and was co-written and directed by Affleck. The movie will be available to stream with a Netflix subscription starting on October 9.
