14 DAY TRIAL // GoDaddy has a history of coming out with very controversial, occasionally very racy ads for the Super Bowl, the biggest televised sporting event of the year, but for the 2015 edition, it completely missed the mark and went from “controversial” to simply “in bad taste.”
The ad they were planning to air on their $4 million (€3.52 million) commercial slot during the Super Bowl has been pulled, after various animal rights groups and regular people at home complained about it, saying it contained images of animal cruelty.
Sad puppy in GoDaddy ad draws sympathy, outrage
You can see it in the video below: the ad starts with the image of a gorgeous puppy being thrown out of or falling from a speeding truck, then traveling a long way until it finds its way back home. There, it is welcomed with open arms by a woman, who keeps telling it how happy she is it’s home because they just sold it through a website set up with GoDaddy.
The twist should have probably been a fun one, in the sense of showing how ironic the puppy’s journey had been, striving to go back to a home where it was no longer wanted because its owners had other thoughts in mind for its future.
Instead, it came across as heartless and cruel.
Animal rights groups went online to say that the ad was indirect endorsement of puppy mills and “inhumane breeding” practices, while PETA released a statement about how “anyone who sells a dog online is a callous jerk,” TMZ reports.
GoDaddy reconsiders
All these cries of outrage eventually found their way back to GoDaddy CEO Blake Irving, who decided to pull the ad and release a statement apologizing for it.
As you can see from his tweet below, the intention was never to be insensitive or offensive: all the wanted was a “fun and funny” ad, but somehow it completely “missed the mark.” The video is no longer scheduled to air during the Super Bowl, and will most likely be replaced by a different one.
As TMZ puts it, GoDaddy paid a fortune for airtime during the Super Bowl, so it’s not like they’re just going to have that money go down the drain by not coming up with a different ad.
Puppy ads are winners, but not always
If you think you see a resemblance between GoDaddy’s “Lost Dog” ad and Budweiser’s “Puppy Love” one from last year, you’re probably not alone. In fact, we’d even go as far as to say that GoDaddy tried to come up with a parody of some sorts to Budweiser’s yet-to-be-released “Lost Puppy” commercial, with the exception of the twist at the end.
Indeed, puppy ads have proved a hit with audiences because, seriously now, who doesn’t love a good puppy video? Budweiser knows this, having used this recipe two consecutive years.
GoDaddy wanted to capitalize on it as well, but in their attempt to show the fun side of the story, they crossed the line into forbidden territory. And it was probably one very expensive mistake to make.
Thank you @animalrescuers for the candid feedback. What should have been a fun and funny ad clearly missed the mark and we will not air it.
— Blake Irving (@Blakei) January 27, 2015
