As a Jeep Owner, Getting ‘Ducked’ Is a Good Thing
A new trend of leaving rubber ducks on Jeep vehicles leaves owners with mixed feelings.
Being told to “get ducked” or that “you’ve been ducked” is now more than just a funny autocorrect miss. Now, it’s a nationwide trend amongst Jeep owners that’s leaving the community quite divided. The trend is simple — it involves leaving rubber ducks on door handles, on the hood, or in the cabs of open-air Jeeps. Many are coming to their parked vehicles finding the rubber ducks, sometimes several in one week. Some are pleasantly shocked, others are annoyed.
One Pennsylvanian man, Dave Fetters, hopped on the ducking trend after he returned from his local farmer’s market to find a rubber duck with a tag reading, “You’ve been ducked!” on the doorhandle of his Wrangler. Finding it to be a positive mood booster from one Jeep owner to another, he claims to have left around 1,500 rubber ducks on other Jeeps.
Not long afterwards, the hashtags #duckduckjeep or #duckingjeep took to Instagram, where people posted about getting ducked. A popular ducker, Fetters is also an avid poster on a dedicated Facebook page for duckers — with around 75,000 current members and counting.
“It always makes me happy when somebody takes a picture of one of [my ducks] and thanks me for ducking them,” says Fetters for Wall Street Journal.
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Jeep Ducking is ever evolving, though, with some duckers going out of their way to match a duck’s color to the Jeep they’re ducking. Or, depending on the style of rubber duck on hand, will try to match the design to the Jeep. It’s a fun way for fellow Jeep owners to interact with one another — and some owners are eager to collect and display the ducks they’ve been given on their dashboards.
Though, not all Jeep owners are as enthusiastic. For instance, just as many Tik Toks or Instagram posts have gone up raging about getting ducked, and how the game is childish or “stupid.” Naturally, that’s not the majority, as even Stellantis’ Jim Morrison, senior vice president and head of the Jeep brand in North America, recognizes the practice as a “grassroots” game — and part of what makes being a Jeep owner so special.
Have YOU been ducked? Let us know in the comments how you feel about the game, and how many ducks you’ve received or given away!
Photos: Instagram; hnJump
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