Web hosting company GoDaddy is notorious for airing risqué Super Bowl ads, however the content in this year’s spot is causing the company to cancel a planned advertisement and apologize, after drawing the ire of animal rights activists.
The commercial, titled “Journey Home,” features a young golden retriever named Buddy braving his way home after falling out of a moving truck. After surviving a challenging journey, Buddy is greeted with open arms, and then immediately sold online by his owners via a website hosted by the company.
While there are no girls vying for your all-important dollars with parts of their anatomy, the spot nevertheless upset many in the animal rescue community.
Animal rights advocate Helena Yurcho launched a petition on Change.org and accused the commercial of promoting “animal cruelty.”
PETA director Colleen O’Brien also condemned the spot, along with the SPCA, which took to Twitter to condemn “puppy mills.”
GoDaddy CEO Blake Irving responded to the ad’s critics through a post to the company’s blog. His statement partially reads:
This morning we previewed GoDaddy’s Super Bowl spot on a popular talk show, and shortly after a controversy started to swirl about Buddy, our puppy, being sold online…
We are pulling the ad from the Super Bowl. You’ll still see us in the Big Game this year, and we hope it makes you laugh…
Buddy came to us from a reputable and loving breeder in California. He’s now part of the GoDaddy family as our Chief Companion Officer and he lives permanently with one of our longtime employees.
Watch the commercial below, courtesy of TMZ:
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