GoDaddy released the first of its two Super Bowl ads, and the web hosting company has made good on its promise to focus on its services rather than the scantily clad women that have characterized the brand's Super Bowl advertising in years past.
In a 30-second ad, race car driver Danica Patrick wears a muscle suit while running through the streets alongside a throng of shirtless, male bodybuilders. It is then revealed that Patrick and the bodybuilders are running to a tanning salon whose owner used GoDaddy to help list her business and its location online:
After noticing the crush of prospective customers with their faces pressed up against the glass, the owner squirts a shot of tanning spray in the air and whispers GoDaddy's new catchphrase, "It's Go Time."
The ad, reported by Adweek to be made by Deutsch New York, continues GoDaddy's pivot from the salacious Super Bowl ads that brought it to prominence. In September, CEO Blake Irving indicated in a New York Times interview that female small business operators had pressured online craft emporium Etsy to sever business ties with the company due to the way it objectified women in its advertising.
The offending ads typically featured attractive women, including Patrick, in sexually loaded situations and promised viewers a chance to see the women in more revealing attire by visiting GoDaddy's website.
The company announced its new branding direction in September with an ad featuring Jean-Claude Van Damme that focused on a female owner of a flower shop and how GoDaddy could help grow her business.
After Super Bowl ads featuring strip-teases, body paint, and an intense makeout session, GoDaddy very well could shock more viewers with two tame advertisements than it would with more of the risque fare it is known for.