- Forget GoDaddy Already, It Starts at HOME.
In the aftermath of the Super Bowl social media has been abuzz debating GoDaddy’s controversial ads. Their hot girl/nerd guy make out session garnered mass publicity and made them rich. According to GoDaddy, they gained 10,000 new customers in the wake of the commercial. This wasn’t just a “little bump” for them, it was their biggest sales day in history.
How is this possible? They angered every female in America with that ad? Easy. They’re the bully in the room with all the connections. As annoying as their commercials are, they get us talking and EVERYONE remembers their name. It’s basic human nature. We love train wrecks. We never forget the people who p*ss us off, but have a hard time remembering those who were “nice.”
GoDaddy knows this all too well and bet the farm on being controversial and memorable versus sweet and poignant. Ram may have preached “God Made a Farmer“, but GoDaddy made a sale. The almighty dollar wins and we’re once again reminded sex sells.
I could go on for hours about why I personally hated the commercial, but I’ll save the rant. I think we’re making a mistake by giving GoDaddy so much credit. GoDaddy did not create the hypersexualization of women, nor the stereotype that women are nothing more than arm candy in the tech world. They simply made a Super Bowl ad perpetuating the stereotype. Attacking the messenger won’t change the message.
If you were truly angered by the ad, DO SOMETHING about it? And no, I don’t mean boycott GoDaddy. I mean prove the stereotype WRONG. Change the message. It starts with one little girl, then another. Before long, the “bimbo” stereotype will fade away. BUT you have to take the first step. Let that first step start in YOUR home.
Stop buying your daughter scantily clad dolls.
Teach your daughter how to climb trees.
Send your little girl to math club and leave the ballet slippers at home.
Speak of only positive role models and leave the latest scandals to TMZ.
Read her books with tales of courageous young heroines.
Show nothing but respect for yourself so she learns by your example.
Raise her with the grit to pull herself up by her own bootstraps.
…and most importantly….
Love her truly, madly, deeply for the perfect little girl she is.
Our daughters and the world need to hear us, we can all take the step together. Please share this post if you’re with me!
Want more? Read: Teaching Our Daughters the Power of Beauty AND Brains
Wonderful! As a mother of a young boy I still feel this applies to him. If you show what a respectable way of being is to all children we have a better chance of respectable adults as they grow older. Show young women that they are worth and worthy of more than being an object and show our young men how to treat them with the respect, kindness, and caring that they are deserving of. This also goes for our boys. This world has become to concerned with the looks instead of the substance. It’s the words in the book that make it come alive, not the cover.
I don’t have a daughter, all boys this way, but that was a great article Heather.
Mike T Smith Thanks! Not much easier for boys tho? I have 2…they’ll have the chore of finding a nice girl that hasn’t been tainted by all these negative stereotypes
Yup. Only another parent would understand how we already worry about who are kids will end up with one day.
Mike T Smith Yea
It’s scary? I keep my “side of the street” clean, but you can’t control who moves in next door 
Heather, you call-to-action at the end of the article is dead on. Like.
So true “@glamajama: FORGET the @GoDaddy ad, It Starts at HOME. Change the msg we send our daughters: http://t.co/1z30cKkH #parenting