News Munchies
No Malfunction This Time
Originally Posted
Updated
Television is running scared. Now you don't need an exposed nipple to cause consternation among NFL and television poobahs. A pretend exposure -- one that doesn't "show" anything more than a well-endowed actress with a broken strap -- seems to be sufficient.
A commercial for GoDaddy.com was canceled during Super Bowl XXXIX by the NFL after being run once during the broadcast.
Another wardrobe malfunction?
At pretty realistic, but fake, "Broadcast Censorship Hearings" in Salem, Mass., an actress identified on-screen as Nikki Cappelli "testified" about wanting to work for GoDaddy.com. But oh, woe, she had a wardrobe malfunction.
The strap – memorably, the right strap – of Nikki's skimpy "top" broke as she was speaking to the faux committee, and she, like Justin a year ago, grabbed the featured breast.
One of the Strom Thurmond-like committee members was taking oxygen at this point; a female committee member suggested that Nikki wear a turtleneck.
Ad legend Jerry Della Femina was interviewed by Keith Olberman on MSNBC's "Countdown."
"This is the kind of thinking that got a bunch of poor, innocent witches burned in 1689 in Salem," said the witty Della Femina.
"Nobody knows who GoDaddy.com is. It's taking away from advertisers the right to waste $2.5 million. It's their God-given right to waste that money on the Super Bowl."
Throw me into the briar patch. Please!
The advertiser has threatened to sue, but the publicity from getting the spot yanked – and replayed in its entirety on show after show – doubtless was more valuable than the cost of running the commercial a second time.
After all, they were just pokin' a little pointed fun.
What is GoDaddy.com? In case the spokeswoman's lines distracted you from her line, "It's a Web site where you can register dotcom names for only $8.95 a year."
As far as product recognition was concerned, the ad was a bust.