Why are you so confident that Fox has breached its contract? Isn't it likely that the contract guarantees the network's right to stop broadcasting an ad and limits its liability to the purchase price of the spot? Unless you have some reason to believe the contract doesn't contain such terms, I think you're a little hasty with your unsubstantiated "Fox breached its contract!" accusation.

Joe-- Fair point -- see my rephasing of that question in the post.

With respect to "Playmakers," the NFL and a lot of athletes were upset because they felt the show portrayed football players as philandering, wife-slappin', ho-chasing, drug-abusing, overpriced, oversexed, violent, self-absorbed, egomaniacs.

Glad none of that is true.

LOL
______________________

The odd thing is that we're supposed to believe that the content of the godaddy.com commercial was some sort of surprise to he Fox executives, when anyone with a half a brain knows that every single new commercial that shows on prime time (much less the SB) is reviewed, re-reviewed, vetted, examined, and "approved" to microscopic tolerances. What happened? Someone outside of the normal chain took a look at it, decided it was bad, and ordered it yanked without any real thought. It's going to end up costing Fox some real money (besides the $2 million plus in actual cash they're going to have to refund). When you sell someone an ad package, there's protections going both ways, and an arbitrary decision by the broadcaster to pull the spot is seldom protected.

Their league, their rules, Dan.

It is possible for ads to be clever and effective without profanity, bare breasts, flatulence and some of the other things sacred to libertarian hipsters. By the standards of 20 years ago last night's commercials were pretty racy, though I doubt they were more persuasive advertisments for that reason.

Having said that, I wish the NFL had banned a couple of ads just because they were stupid. Frozen Mustang Guy, for one. And the one for...I think it was for countertops of some kind.

I can't get worked up over "censorship" by either the NFL or Fox. They surely have the right to control what they themselves broadcast...

Is it censorship that Ad Age doesn't run ad's portraying hard-core porn? There are different standards appropriate to different venues and the person who gets to decide that is usually the person who owns that venue. Are we as a culture really running out of venues where racier content is appropriate and permitted (and encouraged) so that the Super Bowl's more "family friendly" advertising policy is a big problem?

Excusing the lameness of the ads on the grounds that they were subject to "censorship" is a cop-out for the ad agencies involved. They were lame because they were lame... Is the only way to make an ad engaging, interesting or funny to show a nipple? The only way the "censorship" could have contributed to the lameness of the ads is if the agencies have become to reliant on sex jokes (likely to be banned) as a crutch to compensate for their lack of creativity... and how lame is that?

I boycotted the Superbowl due to their removal of racy and sleazy material. I like sleaze, and I refuse to patronize a network that objects to it.

Agree with some of the other commentors here on the censorship issue. Censorship is really a cop out. Probably because, uncreative ad agencies isn't nearly as right-wing bashing as it needs to be for "Madison Avenue." After all, probably the most creative and yet completely tame ad was for Ameriquest mortgage and the Don't judge too quickly with the cat.

Non-sequitur Bowl. How many ads simply made no damned sense? As lame as it was, at least the Mustang ad actually managed to showcase their product (and that convertable is pretty sweet i might add). I was hoping for an add with some dude just shoveling piles of cash into a furnace, would have made as much sense and at least make me laugh.

Did anyone else notice the "hearings" took place in Salem, MA? (The Salem of the infamous witch hunts). Heh.

Godaddy was a good ad. The super bowl has become a stale excuse for entertainment tho - I don't think people even like to watch it anymore.

Breach of contract is a singularly difficult thing to speculate about without, y'know, seeing the contract. And there's no reason to think that the contractual terms are any different for an ad that could pulled by Standards after airing once than for an ad that was pulled by Standards the day before the Superbowl. It's sillier, but probably not contractually different (unless of course the contract says that they're different, e.g. by guaranteeing 24 hours notice of cancellation provided that the ad was provided to the Standards dept 72 hours earlier).

I'd be surprised if Fox owed GoDaddy much more than a refund, or even make-good commercial spots totalling the value of what got cancelled.

We loved the meta FedEx ad (especially the Journey song and the "optional" qualifier about the company slogan). It's only funny the first time, though.

But yeah, it was a weak year. Weaker than last year, which was also weak. Good thing the game was good! And for once, they even gave the MVP award to the right guy (I was afraid they'd give it to Harrison). I thought last year should've went to Delhomme in a losing effort, and thought Simeon Rice was the no-brainer the year before.

What I wanna know is, who gives a rat's ass?

I wasn't quick enough with the remote since I was in another room, so the GoDaddy commercial got a few moments of play time in my house with my seven year old and ten year old watching. I'm not a prude and really don't care what is on TV as long as I know it's coming so I can decide what I feel is appropriate for my kids to see. When they throw crap like that up and I don't expect it pisses me off (Just like all of the erectile dysfunction commercials on TV and the radio). Who lost? All of the other advertisers because I flipped the channel at each commercial break and didn't sit through one of them until after half-time when my kids were in bed.

I like sleaze, and I refuse to patronize a network that objects to it.

In that case, I think we can definitely say your gripe was with the NFL, not Fox.

>By the standards of 20 years ago last
>night's commercials were pretty racy...

Indeed. Think for a second about how many involved humor based on homosexuality (false perceptions of it, of course.)

As far as GoDaddy: The only reason I remembered what it was is that I knew what "domain-name registration" meant. Nobody at work this morning knew what it was for, thought they all remembered it because OMG YOU ALMOST SAW HER TIT HAW HAW! So I guess the ad worked, in that sense, because everyone remembered GoDaddy.com. (On the other hand everyone still remembers the "Herding Cats" commercial, even though nobody has any idea what it was for.)

In any case, the GoDaddy commercial burned out its joke about twenty seconds in, and the rest was like watching a bad "American Idol" contestant.

As far as tits: I have to wonder at the thought process that said "hey, for the 2004 Super Bowl, let's have Justin Timberlake rip Janet Jackson's dress off!" Like...what audience are you aiming this at, here? If there's any event that's guaranteed to be an all-ages audience, it's the Super Bowl.

There was no more breast shown on the commercial than the broadcast showed of the Valley Girls (Silicon) cheering their team on.

It just lasted longer.

And wonder of wonders. They are going to get some money back for sure. Enough to finance a suit to keep the subject a topic of conversation for months. Plus they might even win the suit.

A very successful commercial indeed.

Hey Dan, thanks for posting the link to the add. Got anything similar for Selma?

Perhaps the most intelligent scenario is that GD and Fox are co-conspiring to create a false controversy in order to provide GD with more press and public interest in the aftermath.

I think the "herding cats" commercial was for Avaya, which is one of Lucent's spinoffs. That was a great commercial.

There are so many reasons why an ad might not air (preemption and technical difficulties, to name two), I would be quite surprised if any standard contract did not allow for it.

For all other mammarophiles out there who, like me, found the Go Daddy girl to be, er, pleasing to the eye, I'd heartily recommend checking out the "web-only" version at http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/superbowl05/landing.asp?isc=bpshdr001 . It's rich stuff.

Other than cheering the pneumatic aspects of the ad, I have nothing else. (Except, I suppose, to second Jacob Levy's point that we'd actually have to read the contract to know if it's been breached. I'd speculate that, rather than simply providing restitution in the event of a breach, there's probably some sort of liquidated damages provision. But I have no idea; I only said that to seem smart.)

Come on. The biggest issue is how lame the ad people are if the only "clever" idea they can think up is to show "big boobs". Whaa hoo, thats a new one! It's the ad people who suck and they create the ads that suck. Perhaps it's time to outsource to some creative people in some other country?

P.S. The ad I link to is, of course, the same "controversial" one Dan links to in the main. Just as good the second time!

The girl in the GoDaddy.com commercial and Janet Jackson both illustrate that sleazy and attractive aren't the same thing.

If there is a cause here, it won't be breach of contract by Fox. What it should be is a RICO suit.

The NFL can be liable for interfering with two other companies legitimate business arrangements; just as the MOB can be indicted for "asking" Local Daily News not to take ads from certain garbage removal companies.

"Kevin Dugan's provocative argument that blogs have ruined Super Bowl ads forever."

Stuff and nonsense. I'm surprised at Dugan's lack of knowledge in this area.

Blogs did not ruin Super Bowl ads; the ad companies do. They're the ones releasing the information ahead of the game. For years, the Associated Press would run stories promoting the ads before the Super Bowl, with the images from the ads helpfully supplied by the companies themselves.

The blogs act as a megaphone, spreading the word about the ads, but they didn't gather the information in the first place. That's the companies' responsibility.

Did anyone notice that after making that argument Durgan undercuts his position?

"Volvo's first Super Bowl ad was done superbly. They had pregame buzz and the ad was still a surprise with Branson appearing in it. The de rigueur URL at the end sent it into orbit. Online or offline, every element supported the larger campaign. Volvo even bought keywords on Feedster around "super bowl" + ad."

The same bloggers that "spoiled" the Super Bowl ad wasn't able to do that with Volvo. In fact, Volvo increased its buzz by buying Feedster keywords. That doesn't sound like a tragedy to me.

I just think that it's funny that Fox, of all networks, censored a commercial. As a rule, if you are watching television and you faintly hear civilization crumbling in the bacground, you'll find that you are watching Fox. "Worlds Worst Police Brutality Videos" or "When Lawyers Attack" are OK and this commercial isn't. Strange isn't it?

The 'Herding Cats' Commercial was for EDS. I know, because I still have a mouse pad from that ad campaign at work. :)

I certainly enjoyed looking at the GoDaddy spokesgirl, and they've stirred enough controversy to get them some name recognition. For them, I think the ad is a smashing success.

You children are missing the biger point, which is that godaddy.com got WAY more talk by being booted than they would have if they had played again. Hands down.

How many people have visited the link, or seen the ad online? The longer 2 minute version, too, huh?

So just SHUT UP your WHINING about censorship, you silly bitches, godaddy.com is making off like a bandit at these free advertising rates.

Besides, as half of you already know, godaddy.com collapsed after the first ad, there's NO FRIGGIN' WAY they could have handled the second wave. NO WAY.

Missing that second ad was a PLUS for godaddy.com.

Wasn't the ad with Mickey Rooney in the sauna also pulled due to his towel dropping as he ran out? I saw it on iFilm last night and only stopped the bleeding from my eyes an hour ago.

Given the choice between sleazy and attractive I'll take sleazy every day. Now if I can get sleazy and attractive that would be a plus.

BTW did you folks know Paris Hilton has a TV show?

Well pardon me in any case. I'm off to watch reruns of Bay Watch. Actually I never cared for Bay. It was the watching that was important.

Too bad Russ Meyer doesn't have anything to say on the matter.

Oh, yeah. Despite rumors to the contrary Lady Justice is not planning to get breast implants. Rumor has it she likes the natural look which is back in Vogue. Or was that the Evergreen Review. I forget.

The GoDaddy.com ad was just plain *bad.* I would hope even the buffons that like Howard Stern would have found the lack of humor in it appalling. Satire is very hard to do well. And they didn't do it well.

I heard it was the NFL that called and told Fox to pull the ad. If so, it was a smart decision for Fox since its contracts with the NFL are oogles and oogles more valuable to them than all the GoDaddys in the world.

For the interest of the blogger, the phrase "general consensus" is a redundancy. A "consensus" is always "general" unless otherwise specified.

The Lincoln ad wasn't pulled because of complaints by Christian groups, it was pulled because of complaints by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests because they said it "offends females who have been molested."

So there was no buzz over Super Bowl ads before bloggers arrived? What a self-congratulatory set of wankers.

is it a breach of contract? depends on what the contract says (AKA, it's all in the fine print!). Fox, as the the party with the power here, likely put draconian clauses in there to allow them to pull any spot or limit damages, etc., etc.

godaddy may still have a lawsuit to file (unfair trade practices and other commercial litigation baloney claims, conspiracy against NFL and Fox perhaps) but victory is by no means assured. better to negotiate a bunch of compensatory ad time during some of fox's other family-friendly fare. when animals attack 7?

For the most expensive ads of the year, I expect exceptional ad craftmanship. Go Daddy wasn't there. It was predictable and tired. Who hasn't watched boobs falling out of underwear ad nauseum?

OTH, the cat ad was a fabulous sight gag based on basic, classic comedy priciples.

Nitro Nora

After this GoDaddy flap, I'm left wondering where all the blowback over the the Ameriquest "You're getting robbed.." ad is. In our world of color coded threats surely joking about robbery is at least an orange violation.

Best commercial: Anheuser Busch's tribute to returning armed service members.

Totally agree GoDaddy burned out 20 seconds in. Embarassingly lame by the end. Only redemption was the congressional respirator.

The military-honoring "beer" commercial never showed a product, had no dialog and very simple music, but was perhaps the most emotionally satisfying commercial I ever saw. They complete captured my feelings.

I'm a little surprised nobody has commented on the E! Online article Dan linked to at the end of his post, which contains the following hilarious passage:
A year after the FCC logged more than 500,000 complaints over Jackson's exposed breast at the Super Bowl halftime show, the governmental watchdog had received exactly two complaints by Monday afternoon over McCartney's fully clothed set.

In both cases, viewers complained of being "bored" by McCartney's 12-minute, four-song showcase of Beatles and Wings classics, including "Hey, Jude," FCC spokeswoman Rosemary Kimball said Monday.

Guy:

Did you know that the vast majority of the complaints to the FCC (except about Janet Jackson's halftime show) are sent by one group? They use the power of the Intarweb to mass-email the FCC. In fact, that one group was responsible for over 99% of all complaints to the FCC in 2003. I'm sure glad they're 'protecting' the 'public'.
Wasn't the FCC just supposed to regulate *access* to the airwaves, not content? "Congress shall make no law infringing upon the freedom of speech..." and all that. I guess laws are bad, but regulatory, supervisory bodies are just fine. How long before people start getting fined for 'saying offensive things' in normal conversation?
http://www.mediaweek.com/mediaweek/headlines/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000731656

> I wasn't quick enough with the remote since I was
> in another room, so the GoDaddy commercial got a
> few moments of play time in my house with my seven
> year old and ten year old watching.

Your children are going to be upset/damaged by a swimsuit STRAP falling down? Not even a bare boob (horrors) but a slipping strap?!?

How did you handle the "4-hour erection" disclaimer after the Cialis ad then? Although I don't MIND explaining it to my pre-teens ("you know how you are always saying Dad is 'really old now'?"), but that sure seems offensive to me.

Cranky

No one has mentioned that the GoDaddy.com ad was shown on TV several times in the days before the game. It was featured in news stories about various ads that were rejected, and used as an example of one "racy" ad that WAS approved. So if I knew about it beforehand (and saw it in its entirety more than once on Fox News and MSNBC), then why didn't the NFL?

I thought the GoDaddy.com ad was topical, funny, entertaining, and appropriate. I found none of the above in the "entertainment" the ad was lampooning.

Dan,

Spots get cancelled all the time for a number of reasons although its unusal to cancel a spot for "content". Most spots must be screened and aproved by a station's standards board prior to air - this goes for the run of the mill sitcoms as well as the superbowl. Since spots aren't guaranteed to run I doubt their will be any legal follow up.

Some Simpsons episode mocks "The Lion King" promos where real artists sketch real animals. A scene in the original episode showed the "Itchy and Scratchy" cartoonists sketching a cat being blown up with dynamite. Fox edited the scene for being too violent. When the Simpsons writers pointed out that "Itchy and Scratchy" almost always involves gruesome cat murder, Fox replied: yes, but that's just a cartoon.

Deciding what to show and what not to is fuzzy, crazy and subjective. But someone has to draw a line somewhere; ads in a true libertarian fantasy world would probably be unwatchable, competing for glancing attention from an increasingly ad-avoidant audience (all the while making them more ad-avoidant). I'm just glad its not my job to decide. Cut Fox some slack here---they have more egregious sins to right.

Oh, and even when the game is good and the ads suck, we still end up talking about the ads. Super Bowl, schmuper bowl. I'm just in it for the nachos from now on.