Have you seen an iconic rubber duck perching on a Jeep in a parking lot, or perhaps a whole flock of rubber duckies hanging out on a Jeep’s dash? That’s because the squeaky child’s bathtub toy is being repurposed to spread joy amongst Jeep owners.
The Jeep ducking craze started its migration in Canada. In 2020, Canadian resident Allison Parliament was feeling down after an encounter with an angry stranger, and to cheer herself up she bought a bag of rubber ducks and left one with a positive note on someone’s Jeep. Her kind gesture was shared on social media and quickly spread throughout the world.
Today, the Jeep ducking trend is so popular that accessories such as pre-labeled packs of rubber ducks, much like this “duck-it” bucket are available for purchase on websites like Etsy or Amazon. There are even Jeep model-specific duck landing pads for those Jeepers who really want to get quacked up.
A lot of Jeep owners have started carrying rubber ducks in their vehicles just in case an opportunity arises to make another person’s day ducky. When they spot another Jeep in the wild, they place a rubber duck with a note where the owner will see it (on the front bumper, on top of the side mirrors or door handles, or on the front fenders), and when the unsuspecting Jeep driver spots it, the hope is for the recognition to brighten their day. If a Jeeper receives a duck that’s just too adorable to part with, that’s OK! It can be added to their collection on the dashboard, otherwise known as the Jeep “duck pond.” Or the duck receiver can spread the joy of the game to the next cool Jeep that they see.
Notes left on the ducks can range anywhere from, “Nice Jeep,” to “Duck, duck Jeep” or “Your Jeep has been ducked.” Social media hashtags like #duckingjeeps and #duckduckjeep are also encouraged and the post numbers are growing every day.
Jeep ducking began as a Jeep Wrangler thing, but there really aren’t any rules against ducking other Jeep models, whether its rusty or clean, bone-stock or a built rock crawler. Ducks have even appeared on similar 4×4 vehicles such as Ford Broncos, Suzuki Samurais, and older Land Cruisers. After all, ducking is considered an act of kindness, and that’s something that everyone should get involved in.
