In case anyone is interested this is from our local paper:
Flap over GoDaddy\'s Super spot keeps going
Max Jarman
The Arizona Republic
Feb. 9, 2005 12:00 AM
Go daddy, go daddy go.
That has been the story of a once obscure Scottsdale company ever since it took the plunge into the high-profile world of Super Bowl advertising.
GoDaddy.com\'s decision to plunk down almost $5 million for two 30-second Super Bowl spots landed the Internet domain name registry on the front page of major newspapers across the country and interviews on leading news programs.
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But it was the censorship of the company\'s ads by jittery network and NFL officials that elevated GoDaddy to nearly household-word status.
It also has helped launch the career of Nikki Cappelli, the "GoDaddy girl" featured in the commercials.
Still smarting from a $1.2 million indecency fine last year, Fox Broadcasting Co. canceled a second airing of GoDaddy\'s Super Bowl ad after the first showing is said to have upset the National Football League.
The ad showed Cappelli testifying in a tank top before a mock broadcast censorship committee. During the session the strap on the shirt breaks, prompting one committee member to reach for an oxygen mask and another to remark, "May I suggest a turtleneck?" An earlier version of the ad that made reference to a "wardrobe malfunction" was rejected. The term was used to describe the surprise exposure of singer Janet Jackson\'s right breast during the halftime show at last year\'s Super Bowl.
GoDaddy President Bob Parsons says all he has done lately is give media interviews.
Growing instances of media censorship have created a hot-button topic, and Parsons has made the rounds on talk shows, news programs and newspaper articles. The ad itself was the third most replayed one from the Super Bowl on TiVo systems and drew the most complaints, out of 36 total, to the Federal Communications Commission, GoDaddy said.
All that has meant millions of dollars in free publicity for GoDaddy.com which has seen traffic on its Web site soar since Sunday.
Although Parsons acknowledges the publicity has pushed the company\'s name into the public spotlight, he and GoDaddy Chief Operating Officer Warren Adelman are furious with Fox.
They contend that the company was cheated out of even more exposure that would have come from a second airing of its ad.
"The whole goal in stepping up to multiple ads was the value of repetition," Adelman said. He noted that Fox also pulled a five-second "brought to you by GoDaddy.com" marquis spot that was part of the two-ad package and scheduled to appear during halftime.
Versions of the controversial ads are scheduled to begin running this week on Bravo, ESPN and other networks this week, Adelman said.
But marketing experts question the effectiveness of the ads and the lasting benefits from the publicity the controversy has garnered.
Arizona State University marketing Professor Vince Blasko said he showed the GoDaddy ad in his class Tuesday as an example of an ad that didn\'t work.
"Everybody laughed, but they gained little information about the company or its products," he said.
He likened it to the "I Can\'t Believe I Ate the Whole Thing" Alka-Seltzer commercials that got people\'s attention but didn\'t sell much product. The GoDaddy ad, which cost $1 million to make, was produced by New York-based Ad Store and filmed in Los Angeles.
Still, Adelman said, the company will seek damages from Fox.
"At the very least we want our money back," he said, noting the company is working to come up with a damages figure to present to Fox. GoDaddy hopes to be able to settle the dispute out of court but will sue, if necessary.
"If they want to go to war, they picked the wrong guy," Parsons told Arizona Republic sports columnist Dan Bickley in a Tuesday morning radio interview.
Parsons and Adelman are particularly upset about the fact that Fox never told them about the decision to pull the ad and about the network\'s claim that its content was out of step with the program and other ads.
"They repeatedly cut to the (Philadelphia) Eagles cheerleaders, who were more scantily clad than our GoDaddy girl in a T-shirt," Adelman said. He noted that an ad for Tabasco sauce featured a girl in a bikini and asked, "How wholesome is it to go on about the long-lasting benefits of an erectile-dysfunction drug (Cialis)?"
Fox says it decided to pull the second ad because it became apparent after the first spot was aired that its content was "very much out of step" with the tenor set by the other ads and programming.
"We understand GoDaddy\'s disappointment with our decision, but ultimately, we are responsible for what our network broadcasts," Jon Nesvig, Fox\'s president of advertising sales, said in a statement.
Edelman said Fox told him that the NFL had complained about the ad after the first airing and ordered Fox to pull the second one.
But NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said the league wasn\'t even aware the ad was scheduled to run a second time. The league did question Fox about its decision to air the ad in the first quarter.
"We wondered why a spot like that was in the game in the first place," he said.
He added it was Fox\'s decision to cancel the ad.
McCarthy acknowledged the league was "disappointed with the overall tonality" of many of the ads aired during last year\'s Super Bowl and had talks with sponsors and the network to ensure the entire program was suitable for a mass audience this year.
As a result, several proposed Super Bowl ads were rejected or pulled by their creators.
Ford Motor Co. pulled a planned commercial with a clergyman "lusting" over a Lincoln Mark LT pickup truck when a group representing victims of sexual abuse by priests complained.
Anheuser-Busch, the game\'s biggest advertiser, pulled an ad spoofing the Janet Jackson fiasco last year after consulting with Fox and the NFL.
The league is still jittery about the Jackson incident, which landed CBS a $550,000 indecency fine from the Federal Communications Commission. CBS has appealed the fine.
Last year, Fox also ran afoul of the federal censors and was fined $1.2 million for airing an episode of Married by America that showed people licking whipped cream from strippers\' bodies and a man in his underwear being spanked by strippers.
Blasko said he is not a proponent of media censorship. But he believes the Super Bowl is a family-oriented event that should be appropriate to be viewed by all ages.
"Never do a commercial you would be afraid to show to your family," he said, quoting legendary advertising executive David Ogilvy.
Topic: SuperBowl Commercials.... (Read 940 times)