Just For The Halibut: GoDaddy-A-NoNo!

KATHERINE ONG
Opinions Editor

One of the highlights of the Super Bowl season is not only the game but also the special commercials created especially for the intervals between game coverage. They are the only ones I ever look forward to, as commercials are often the bane of my Sunday night “Once Upon a Time” airtime existence.
This year, however, GoDaddy—corporate company, domain registrar and web hosting superpower—decided to air a rather unconventional commercial in hopes of possibly rebuilding their customer fanbase that was lost after the Stop Online Piracy Act boycotts in 2012.
Within the commercial, GoDaddy claims that there are two sides to their company. Bar Raefeli, an Israeli supermodel, represents GoDaddy’s “sexy side” and Walter, played by Jessie Heiman, represents the “smart side.”
In order to visually portray its ability to be the perfect fusion of sexy and smart, GoDaddy presented a physical analogy and had both sides fuse lips. The camera then proceeded to lock onto the scene of mashing and sucking, complete with an amplified soundtrack of smacks, slurps and sucks, zooming in on the trading of spittle. The scene lasted approximately ten seconds, but felt more like a million—when sitting next to my dad.
After the excruciating commercial had ended, I had a chance to reevaluate my life. How in the world had I gone on so long without understanding just how perfect GoDaddy’s services are for my website ventures?! Just kidding. Honestly, I got nothing from the commercial, except the deduction that GoDaddy has a strange idea of who’s their target audience: people who associate the sound of saliva with commercial success.
If their goal was to make an impression, they certainly achieved it. Jay Leno himself has already done his version of a reenactment—albeit more hilarious than cringe-worthy. Good advertisements are hard to forget. GoDaddy is bound to have some intrigued reactions to their otherwise embarrassing marketing methods.