“Have you heard about “Puppygate?” That’s what I’m calling GoDaddy’s latest foray into advertising controversy. To many, the brand has crossed a new line, an inhumane line, a politically incorrect line with its new puppy ad produced specifically to run on the 2015 Super Bowl. Over 40,000 people signed a petition to get GoDaddy to pull the ad. What a nightmare, right? Well, no, not if you’re GoDaddy.
First, here’s the ad in case you haven’t seen it.
Most brands fear controversy because it’s inherently polarizing. We don’t want to breed any haters out there, now do we? We want to appeal to as many people as possible. But, for many brands, the desire to avoid controversy results in invisibility. Yes, you succeed in not offending, but you fail at appealing to more customers.
GoDaddy understands something most brands overlook. “Polarizing” has two extremes, not just one. Meaning, an ad that is polarizing isn’t all bad, it’s just caused the creation of two opposing views. One view, yes, is negative. The other view is not. And in the creation of these two opposing views, conversations naturally ensue. Loud, public, petition-signing, news-generating conversations.”
*Read more here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/willburns/2015/01/28/puppygate-once-again-godaddy-risks-nothing-when-risking-controversy/
The Young Turks hosts Cenk Uygur (http://www.twitter.com/cenkuygur) & Ana Kasparian (http://www.twitter.com/anakasparian) break it down.
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