This year, web hosting company GoDaddy ditched its usual sexist Super Bowl fare starring buxom women with long locks and replaced it with …a guy sitting at a desk working. Though perhaps refreshing for some, the spot was so tonally odd that reps issued a tweet to clarify that it was not a stunt:
Not a stunt, it was a shift due to what we heard from you. @Blakei talks with @foxandfriends about our #SB49 ad: http://t.co/psg71QVShc
— GoDaddy (@GoDaddy) February 2, 2015
The original ad was a parody of Budweiser’s ridiculous horse-meets-puppy tradition, ending with the puppy being sold via a website. GoDaddy released the 30-second commercial, which cost $4.5 million, on the internet on Tuesday. As soon as it landed, however, animal rights activists launched a Change.org petition and gathered 42,000 signatures to protest its irresponsible message. GoDaddy, forever a courter of controversy, apologized and pulled it.
Another ad was then hacked together overnight with footage on-file, narrated by a guy who has never done any voice acting. It sucked.
.@GoDaddy says new #SuperBowlad created overnight from file footage and narrated by the agency art director who had never done VO work.
— Ad Age (@adage) February 2, 2015
Next time, they should just hire Tim & Eric, who can even make glue look sexy.
