GoDaddy Pulls Super Bowl Ad After Complaints About 'Puppy Mill' Humor

CEO says spot 'missed the mark' but the brand has a backup plan By Kristina Monllos

On the same day it released its 2015 Super Bowl ad online, GoDaddy quickly responded to a wave of criticism from dog advocates and said it would not air the spot on the game.

The 30-second ad featured a golden retriever puppy finding its way home after falling out of a truck, only to find its owner has used GoDaddy to set up a website that lets her promptly sell the dog to a new owner. The ad seemed to be an attempt at satirizing Budweiser's highly anticipated "Lost Dog," a follow-up to 2014 Super Bowl favorite "Puppy Love."

But many in the animal rescue community swiftly pointed out that dogs purchased online often come from "puppy mills," and the hashtag #GoDaddyPuppy became a rallying point for critics.

GoDaddy CEO Blake Irving responded to the ad's critics on Twitter this afternoon, vowing "we will not air it."

Thank you @animalrescuers for the candid feedback. What should have been a fun and funny ad clearly missed the mark and we will not air it.

— Blake Irving (@Blakei) January 27, 2015

 GoDaddy officials could not be reached for further comment. Gerry Graf, who runs the agency that made the spot, Barton F. Graf 9000, declined to comment.

UPDATE: At around 6:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Irving posted a longer explanation to the GoDaddy blog—confirming the ad won't run on the game, but saying the company will still air something during the telecast. "We are pulling the ad from the Super Bowl," he wrote. "You'll still see us in the Big Game this year, and we hope it makes you laugh."

The YouTube video was also removed around the same time.

Here's the spot as it was initially intended to air:

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