Why People Leave Ducks On Jeeps

• July 1, 2024
• Story By
  Ali Mansour - Off-Road & Truck Editor
• Photos By Ali Mansour

Until 2020, there had never been a more established gesture in the Jeep community than the Jeep wave. By most accounts, the Jeep wave is as old as the brand itself. How then, in such a short period of time, has the trend of “ducking” become so ingrained in the Jeep world? Ducking, aka Duck Duck Jeep, is simply the act of placing a small toy duck on someone’s Jeep.

The person credited with kickstarting this movement is a woman named Allison Parliament. As the story goes, Parliament bought a bag of ducks at a Stedmans Department store initially for a joke to play on her friend Peter. After leaving the store with the bag, she spotted what she thought was great looking Jeep. Armed with a bag of ducks and a sharpie, she suddenly had the idea to place one of the ducks on that Jeep with a note that said “Nice Jeep. Hope it makes you smile” written on the bottom.

Before she could finish placing the duck on the Jeep, the owner approached her. Once she explained what she was doing, the owner of the Jeep was thrilled and thought it was a great idea. So, much so that he actually went into the Stedmans and purchased a bag of ducks to handout himself. This gave Parliament such a great feeling that she decided to duck a few more Jeeps while they were out shopping. The movement quickly spread like wildfire.

Fast forward less than four years later and you can go into nearly any parking lot in North America and find a Wrangler with ducks sitting on the dash. At its core, the purpose of ducking is to spread joy. Like all things in life, there will be people that don’t like it, and that’s perfectly OK. At this point, the #DuckDuckJeep is a global phenomenon. Searching for that hashtag will take you on a journey around the world, which is absolutely incredible.

Sadley, Allison Parliament passed on June 22, 2024. A life-long Jeep enthusiast, her impact on the Jeep world has been incredible. No matter if ducking has the staying power of the Jeep wave, I think we all can agree that a little more kindness in this world isn’t a bad thing.