by Matt Konkle
Managing Editor
Allison Parliament.
You may not know the name. But you definitely have seen the ducks.
They are hard to miss when you see just about any Jeep these days.
On dashboards. Fenders. Hoods. Almost wherever.
Unfortunately, though, the founder of this whole Jeep duck movement, Parliament, passed away June 22, her family announced in a statement. She leaves behind a legacy that has inspired Jeep enthusiasts all over the globe to better enjoy their hobby.
”Allison's impact on the Jeep community worldwide was profound, spreading kindness and joy through her simple yet powerful initiative,” her family said. “Her vision brought smiles and created connections among Jeep enthusiasts around the globe, fostering a sense of unity and camaraderie.”
Back in 2020, Parliament was driving from Alabama to visit her cousin in Bancroft, Ontario, during the earlier stages of COVID-19.
Rubber ducks were the last thing on her mind when she pulled off the road to put some fuel into her 2018 Wrangler Sahara at a rest stop.
While there, Parliament said someone spotted her Alabama license plate and took offense, saying she was just a ‘dirty’ American and only wanted to spread COVID to hurt people.
”It was very scary,” Parliament said when Quadratec met up with her during a summer Jeep event. “He put his hands on me and knocked me back into my Jeep.”
Bruised and shaken, Parliament quickly sped off and safely reached her destination, but spent the next few weeks unable to leave the house.
Finally, she and a friend went on a weekend trip to visit extended family. While there, they visited a general store that, among other things, was selling bags of rubber ducks. So she bought a bag with the intention of hiding ducks around the house with little notes to hopefully make her friend laugh.
”Well, it ended up that when I walked into the store, I had a permanent marker in my pocket because I always do, so I decided to write ‘Nice Jeep’ on one of the ducks, because there was a really nice one outside and I thought ‘what the heck, I might as well make someone else laugh’,” Parliament said. “It turns out that the gentleman who got the duck saw me put it on his Jeep, and came over saying ‘Whatcha doing?’ In any case, he cracked up and said ‘This is amazing, we need to put this on social media’.”
So she did, hashtagging it as ‘DuckDuckJeep’ and said within a few hours there were 2,000 followers. After 10 days, there were 10,000 followers.
”Now it’s morphed into this huge thing,” she said. “Rather than focus on hate and stupid, we wanted to focus on kindness.”
And focus most people did with these ducks, posting cute pictures from all over the world — sharing nice interactions and personal connections in parking lots, Jeep events, off-road trail rides, and just everyday activities. The whole process becoming more a symbol of camaraderie and kindness, than just the simple act of placing ducks on a Jeep.
But for Parliament, the adventure didn’t just stop with ducks. The organization she founded, ‘Official Ducking Jeep Est2000’, is exclusively recognized by Jeep and these days has more than 77k followers on Facebook. Jim Morrison, then the Head of Jeep Brand in North America, even gave the movement a nod during the national rollout of the company’s 392 Wrangler. She attends plenty of events throughout the year as well, spreading the ducking movement and interacting with tons of supporters.
The ducking rules are pretty simple. If you have a duck and see a Jeep you like, and want to spread a little fun, then go ahead. Just make sure to put it in a prominent place where the owner will immediately see the thing.
"There really are not any strict rules about how to duck someone's Jeep, but the idea is to keep the act within polite and noninvasive gestures," Parliament said. “You don't really need a reason for Jeep ducking other than to connect, bring a smile to someone's face, and have fun."
She added that appropriate spots on a Jeep to duck someone are on top of the side mirrors or door handles, the front bumper, the front of the engine hood, or on the front fenders.
These things aren’t just for Jeeps, either, as Parliament said “Everybody needs kindness.”
“We don’t know what each other is dealing with in each other’s lives,” she said. “We could walk a mile in someone else’s shoes and never understand. So kindness goes a long way, no matter what you’re going through.”
