UPDATE: GoDaddy pulls Super Bowl commercial. GoDaddy’s CEO Blake Irving publish a post on GoDaddy’s blog:
This morning we previewed GoDaddy’s Super Bowl spot on a popular talk show, and shortly after a controversy started to swirl about Buddy, our puppy, being sold online. The responses were emotional and direct. Many people urged us not to run the ad.
[…]
We’ve made a tremendous amount of progress over the past two years, advancing the GoDaddy brand as a company that cares a great deal about small business and is in their corner to help them succeed. People increasingly know who we are, what we do and who we do it for. At the end of the day, our purpose at GoDaddy is to help small businesses around the world build a successful online presence. We hoped our ad would increase awareness of that cause. However, we underestimated the emotional response. And we heard that loud and clear.
The net result? We are pulling the ad from the Super Bowl. You’ll still see us in the Big Game this year, and we hope it makes you laugh.
GoDaddy was 11 times Super Bowl advertiser so definitely it is not a rookie of commercials. This year Godady’s ads agency Barton F. Graf 9000 use a golden retriever puppy in a way that make dog owners writing something like “HUGE dislike!! What is wrong with you people!?! If you think this was clever or creative you need to recheck yourself. This was utterly upsetting.” or “Quality breeders would never allow our pups to ride in the back of a pickup truck nor would we be sitting at home waiting for that pup to find his way home. Disgusted. Just one more reason I pulled my GoDaddy subscription!”
So, the commercial can be funny as dark comedy but some people took it as an insult.
Danica Patrick plays in GoDaddy Super Bowl commercial.
not a smart decision to air this commercial
GoDaddy pulls this Super Bowl commercial. Maybe it was just a marketing stunt..
A good decision!