London residents and tourists were treated to a sight of whimsy when they saw a 50-foot duck float along the River Thames on Wednesday.

The giant rubber duck was sent down the river in the morning by barge as part of the website JackpotJoy's "FUNdation" campaign, which aims to boost the average laughter of British citizens from 7.2 to 15.

It's no surprise that the incident was a giant publicity stunt for the gaming company, who claimed the fake duck was three times the size of a double decker bus and supposedly twice the height of an average house.

Many tourists and locals that saw the strange sight seemed to get a chuckle since the images of the duck have gone viral on the internet.

Organizers wrote on the company's Facebook page the following: "Did everybody enjoy the #JackpotjoyDuck today? We wanted to do everything we could to help cheer up the Nation. But it doesn't end there, because now it's your turn! Putting a giant rubber duck on the Thames is the exact sort of fun we want you to submit to the Jackpotjoy FUNdation."

Fans of the giant duck were encouraged to post the photos they took onto the JackpotJoyDuck Twitter page. The company also asked people to see in a video or picture proposing a "crazy, wonderful, fun" idea and JackpotJoy might just do it.

"2012 really has been the year of the River Thames with the Jubilee Pageant, the floating Olympic rings and David Beckham jetting into the ceremony via speedboat," said British actress Barbara Windsor, a FUNdation spokesperson, according to the UPI.com, who posted a photo of the giant rubber duck floating the River Thames. "We decided to round off the year with the giant duck and it certainly cheered everyone up ... no-one could suppress a smile as they saw it sailing past."

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