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Daddy uses graphic sexual ads and objectify woman to sell products Western Michigan University GAS 1 oho Today with modern technology, companies are always trying to come up with new ways to advertise their products. When watching the television, companies typically have about thirty seconds to one minute to hopefully draw you in and become interested. Sometimes these ads may not even pertain to the product but Just to get your attention. Although this can be a great marketing opportunity for a business or company, sometimes they make take the shock factor too far.
Television has changed so much over the past thirty years. It does not matter what time of day it is, you can turn on the TV and you will see some type of show, music video, or ad that uses sex to draw you in. Sometimes as I am watching TV, I think to myself, what my grandparents must think when they see some of these things that come on TV. There is one day of the year that companies will spend millions of dollars Just to have a thirty second ad, which is the Super Bowl. It is the one time of the year where everyone actually wants to watch the commercials.
Over the recent years, there have been some TV ads during the super bowl that have gone over the limit. Go Daddy is a privately held company that is primarily an Internet domain registrar and web hosting company. Bob Parsons, the founder of the company, refers to the marketing strategy as “Go Daddy-issue”, which he says is “fun, edgy, and a bit inappropriate. ” Go Daddy’s earlier television ads starred former World Wide Entertainment star, Candace Michelle. She would usually be shown in a sexually suggestive manner in ads and was known as “The Go Daddy Girl”.
On February 3, 2013, over 164 million people attached Super Bowl SILVIA. The cost for a thirty-second ad spot during Super Bowl SILVIA cost $4 million. Go Daddy premiered an ad on this day that was clever but somewhat uncomfortable and awkward. The ad begins showing a tall skinny brunette standing and a blonde model sitting next to a short pudgy man. The brunette woman states that there are two sides of Go Daddy, a sexy side and a smart side. The blonde model and the man start making out for about twenty seconds. This is an awkward moment because there is a lot of smooching noises and the camera pans up close.
Right at the end of the ad, it swiftly and briefly states “Get your domain and website at Goddard. Com”. This ad definitely draws you in and gets your attention. A large number of people talked about the Go Daddy ad after the Super Bowl. Even though the Washington Post ranked it one of the top five worst commercials of Super Bowl SILVIA, it got people talking about the company and even looking into the business. It almost forces you to go to their website to find out what Go Daddy exactly is, since the ad does not explain what it is at all.
This commercial objectifies women and uses race and gender as markers. Go Daddy picks an unattractive nerd type of looking male and categorizes him as “the nerd”. They then pick a blonde model, Bar Rafael, and portray her as the “sexy side”. Go Daddy is stereotyping blonde woman stereotyping intelligent individuals as unattractive, awkward and different. It also states in the ad that the nerd is the one that is going to make you a lot of money. Right after they start making out. This is implying that the blonde model is only interested in this man because he is wealthy.
The production of this ad is assembling a message that if you use Go Daddy, you will e successful, defining success in this case as hooking up with attractive women. The content of the ad is using sex to sell their brand. There is no content stating what the company actually does or sells, besides at the last few seconds of the ad. The audience or target market was addressed to males. I think most women would look at this ad and would be offended or disturbed whereas men would be interested and check out Go Daddy’s website. This ad was not the first time Go Daddy has used sex to advertise their product.
They ran another ad during the super bowl that portrayed omen harping on their husbands for not putting their big idea online. It depicts women as angry and construes men are the only ones that can have great ideas. Even though some of these ads have upset many people, it must be working for them. Today Go Daddy employs over 4,000 people and has over 12 million customers. They are the world’s largest domain name registrar and reported over $1. 14 billion dollars in revenue in 2011. As our world is constantly changing, we need to stay media literate to be able analyze the content of these types of advertisements.