GoDaddy's controversial Super Bowl commercials and the negative reactions that follow them have become a kind of American tradition in their own right, but it looks like the company is finally switching gears.
GoDaddy announced Thursday that it plans to move away from the racy, hyper-sexual Super Bowl ads of recent years in favor a more "mature" approach for the next big game. The company has purchased two 30-second spots, one for each half of the game, which will play up what the brand stands for rather than "risque innuendo."
See also: GoDaddy Hires Former Yahoo Exec Blake Irving As CEO
"We’ve matured. We’ve evolved," Barb Rechterman, the company's chief marketing officer, said in a statement. "Our new brand of Super Bowl commercials will make it crystal clear what we do and who we stand for."
The domain registration and hosting service placed its first television ad in 2005, which spoofed Janet Jackson's infamous wardrobe malfunction, and has aired plenty of racy commercials since, including the recent Bar Rafaeli Super Bowl ad, which was censored by CBS.
That original 2005 ad "drove a whole lot of media attention," Rechterman said in the statement, "which was great for a young company starting out." But now GoDaddy claims to have outgrown this strategy.
Rechterman put it even more bluntly in an interview with USA Today on Thursday. "We polarized some. I understand that. But I'm not ashamed of our past," she told the publication. "Now we need to take this brand to a new level."
The shift follows GoDaddy's hiring of a new CEO, former Yahoo exec Blake Irving, who has emphasized the product strategy more.
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