"With a 22-year history of raising funds and awareness for the cause, we know that childhood cancer is too pressing to ignore and too big for any one organization to address alone," Aflac Foundation President Kathelen Amos said. "We applaud Aflac's independent sales agents, who each month give more than $500,000 from their commission checks, and we urge others to join the movement."

The new campaign is designed to engage Aflac employees, agents and the public to increase awareness, promote volunteerism and honor childhood cancer champions through initiatives that include:

• Social media: Aflac donates $2, up to $1.5 million, to The Aflac Foundation each time an individual creates, shares or interacts with a social media post using the hashtag #Duckprints.* Aflac's new "Selfless Selfies" campaign encourages those providing support and love to children with cancer to post their photos on social media using #Duckprints.

• Awards: Duckprints awards are presented to committed people across the country who leave big footprints in the lives of children and families facing cancer. Since its launch in 2013, the Duckprints initiative has honored more than 40 childhood cancer champions across the country.

• Website and merchandise: A new website, AflacCancerCampaign.org, features merchandise for purchase, with net proceeds benefiting The Aflac Foundation. Updated items include a new plush duck as well as T-shirts, travel and sippy cups, and more.

• Sponsorship: Aflac supports national events such as a conversation on cancer in collaboration with Atlantic Media and partnership with CureFest, a grassroots organization that aims to make childhood cancer research a national priority by hosting a rally in Washington, D.C., with the goal of unifying organizations that work in the childhood cancer space, increasing public awareness and building a legislative agenda to increase federal funding for childhood cancers.

About 4 percent of all federal funding for cancer research goes toward pediatric cancer, even though research into adult cancers is rarely relevant to children. To help address this gap, Aflac has contributed more than $118 million to the childhood cancer cause since 1995. The company also sponsors the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center in Atlanta, helping make it one of the top children's cancer programs in the nation, according to the U.S. News and World Report.

"As a pioneer in cancer insurance, Aflac sees the terrible impact of the disease every day as we support our policyholders. So, it makes sense that the company's corporate citizenship commitment not only funds treatment, but social and emotional support for childhood cancer patients," Amos added. "With the Aflac Childhood Cancer Campaign, we strive to foster the long-term hope that comes from research while giving child cancer patients immediate comfort today, along with some of the simple joys of childhood."