Play One on TV

Godaddy.com has built a reputation for aggressive pricing on domain name registrations and web hosting solutions. They have also built a reputation for aggresive marketing through the use of racy Super Bowl commercials. These ads feature young, buxom women in clothing barely adequate to the task, skirting the ever-changing boundary of decency in a post-Janet Jackson world.

Their latest ad has galvanized the debate on the place of propriety (or lack thereof) in American television advertising. Former customer Dawn Eden says it best in her letter to GoDaddy president Bob Parsons:

You say on your blog that good advertising should be polarizing. It’s now apparent that you meant pole-arizing, as in a stripper’s pole. This female customer is keeping her clothes on–and finding another registrar.

To help the beleaguered Mr. Parsons gauge his future advertising decisions, the home office in Puritan, Iowa presents tonight’s list of Top Ten Signs that your GoDaddy Commercial Has Gone Too Far:

10. Tipper Gore is immediately hospitalized after suffering a massive stroke in front of the television.

9. On Monday morning, you open your email box to find 28 urgent emails from your legal department.

8. Muslim extremists begin torching wireless access points in Syria, Jordan, and Pakistan.

7. Senator Ted Kennedy requests a personal interview with your “spokesperson.”

6. GoMommy.com sues for sole custody of the children, citing moral turpitude.

5. TiVo recalls all of their set-top boxes from college fraternity houses to prevent accidental fires due to overuse.

4. All of your adult-site registrants pull their business due to “unfair competition” and “conflict of interest.”

3. Larry Flynt sends a dozen roses and won’t stop calling.

2. You get a greeting card from the ACLU that says, “Thinking of you — call us if you need anything.”

1. Bill O’Reilly’s show launches an investigation into the “War on Boobies in America.”