#NotBuyingIt: Go Daddy Disappoints, Again [View all]

[redqueen]

http://www.missrepresentation.org/media/notbuyingit-godaddy-disappoints-again/

In June we announced, with cautious excitement, that Go Daddy had decided to hire a new ad agency (Deutsch NY) and rethink their historically sexist style of advertising. While many of us had hoped the company would “tiptoe away from objectification,” this past week we saw the first examples of their new campaign – aired during the Olympics on NBC – and we are sad to report that the company seems to have little intention of leaving sexism behind.

The new spots feature women posing suggestively next to socially awkward men, while a male voice-over explains the advertising strategy: scantily-clad females attract customers, while men do the real work to keep the business running. In one commercial a model named “Selina” is compared to a customer service agent named “Wayne” like this: “Wayne pays attention to you, you pay attention to Selina.” It’s Go Daddy poking fun at their own small-minded ideas of the past, while simultaneously repackaging them for use again.

In every spot men are presented as the technology (the intelligence) behind the company, while women are shown as – quite literally – the window dressing that draws people into the business. It’s far from subtle, and consumers are already rejecting the messaging:

Dear #GoDaddy: So men are the brains of your company and women are just the bait??#notbuyingit

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