Katdish.net

I know I’m just one of thousands of bloggers playing Monday morning quarterback to Sunday’s game, but not about the final outcome. There’s only so many times I can relive that horrible ending.

Suffice it to say that, much like talented guitarist Tommy Johnson in O Brother, Where Art Thou, Tom Brady has sold his soul to the devil in exchange for numerous trips to the Superbowl. Because nobody’s that lucky. (Okay, y’all. I’m almost done hating on Tom Brady. Bear with me–it’s a process. I’m sure he’s a great guy and my dislike of him is completely irrational.)

But I digress…

What was your favorite Superbowl commercial? Many would vote for the Budweiser commercial featuring the cute puppy and the Clydesdale horses.

Those sentimental Budweiser commercials are always great. We love the funny ones, the ridiculous and outrageous ones, but we’ve also come to expect the ones we can allow to unabashedly, unapologetically pull at our heartstrings.

GoDaddy thought they would score some points in the “ridiculous and outrageous” category by airing this commercial poking fun at Budweiser:

But when the ad aired early, public backlash on social media was so intense that they decided to pull it, offering this public apology:

“This morning we previewed GoDaddy’s Super Bowl spot on a popular talk show, and shortly after a controversy started to swirl about Buddy, our puppy, being sold online. The responses were emotional and direct. Many people urged us not to run the ad…. The net result? We are pulling the ad from the Super Bowl. You’ll still see us in the Big Game this year, and we hope it makes you laugh. Finally, rest assured, Buddy came to us from a reputable and loving breeder in California. He’s now part of the GoDaddy family as our Chief Companion Officer and he’s been adopted permanently by one of our longtime employees.”

Instead, they ran this ad:

While the public apology may have smoothed over the feathers of animal rights activists and puppy lovers, for me, the replacement commercial seemed like a non-apology apology. Sort of like when a public figure says something horribly offensive then holds a press conference and says, “I deeply regret if the words I chose offended some people.” They’re not really apologizing for being douchy, they’re just sorry that they have to say they’re sorry. Because while the commercial does better reflect the services that GoDaddy offers, they still can’t help but take a dig at Budweiser’s puppy commercial. It comes off as sophomoric and petty, which for me, is pretty much par for the course when it comes to GoDaddy Superbowl commercials.

In years past they have run an ad featuring bodybuilders running towards a spray tan shop, including a freakishly muscular CGI’ed Danica Patrick (their spokesperson) among them and an ad featuring Danica Patrick (again) and a supermodel and be-speckled nerdy looking guy locked in a rather cringe-worthy kiss.

There are a couple of reasons why GoDaddy’s ads never work for me. The first is Danica Patrick.

Personally? I have nothing against her. She’s beautiful, smart and a savvy business person who also happens to be a race car driver. But if GoDaddy is counting on attracting the NASCAR demographic with her, they might want to hire a driver that actually wins races. She still has her supporters, but  many fans believe that Patrick did not deserve to be in NASCAR’s all-star race — which typically is reserved for race winners and the most accomplished drivers — and resent the fact that she got in through the Sprint Fan Vote.

The second reason the ads don’t work for me is that there is an underlying cruel mockery in them. Is anyone really buying that the supermodel is genuinely attracted to the nerdy guy? I certainly didn’t. It just left me feeling uncomfortable for both of them. The bodybuilders racing towards the spray tan place commercial only works if you think all body builders are a bunch of meat headed idiots who deserve to be made fun of.

Am I completely off base about these ads, or do the creators of these commercials remind anyone else of that cruel bully you went to school with who tries to get a laugh at the expense of someone else?

That’s not funny to me.

To me, THIS is funny:

And I love that a regular guy won a million dollars for making it.

Confession time. I’ve been a bit consumed by the political process lately. But rather than write about it and risk offending some or possibly most of you, I think I’ll just keep my discourse to myself. For now.

In the meantime, while we can probably always find SOMETHING to complain about, this old post reminded me that if nothing else, at least I’m not Dwayne…

Anne Geddes image courtesy of photobucket.com

I was recently the recipient of one of those emails that your sweet Aunt Martha tends to forward to you.

You know the ones I’m talking about.

Those emails that have been forwarded so often and to so many recipients that you have to scroll down half the page before getting to the body of the email, only to find that much of the body is filled with cute pictures of babies dressed as flowers and/or those annoying flashing emoticons?

I’ll be honest. I usually delete these emails unread. But for whatever reason, I was feeling generous and decided to read it. You’ve probably read it before, or one very much like it. It was one of those well intentioned object lessons which are supposed to make us count our blessings and be grateful for what we have:

To realize
The value of a sister/brother
Ask someone
Who doesn’t have one.

To realize
The value of ten years:
Ask a newly
Divorced couple.

To realize
The value of four years:
Ask a graduate.

To realize
The value of one year:
Ask a student who
Has failed a final exam…

That’s just a portion of it, but you get the idea: Maybe things aren’t as bad as you think, because someone has always got bigger problems than you do.

I’m not a big fan of this kind of reasoning. Mostly because for me, there’s just something inherently wrong with making yourself feel better because someone is eating a bigger crap sandwich than you are.

Comparing ourselves with others–whether their lives are easier or harder–is never a good idea. If you’re struggling, rest assured there are others who are also struggling. Life is a series of peaks and valleys, and while no two life experiences are identical, we all have our share of high and low points.

Sometimes life is savored and enjoyed.

Other times it feels like an act of endurance.

And even though I just finished telling you that comparing yourself to others is never a good idea, I’m about to ask you to do just that.

Because on my very worst day, I could have honestly said,

“At least I’m not Dwayne.”

Editor’s Note: I may or may not have written that entire introduction just so I could post the above commercial.

“Man, that thing does not like Dwayne.”

Snort!

I’m not very Internet savvy. I don’t know the difference between SEO and SEM nor do I care to know. I used to check my analytics, but I honestly don’t care to anymore. I did stumble across some website stats while I was googling myself (Oh, come on–don’t tell me you’ve never done that) and was pretty shocked at the number of estimated daily page views this blog receives. HELLO LURKERS!

I write this blog because I enjoy writing it and I’m hoping that on any given day, some people will enjoy reading it. I’ve never given much thought to placing ads on this site, although I will promote people and/or products I believe in.

Last week I received an email from a digital marketing firm (whatever that is) asking if I’d be interested in placing a small, text-based ad on my site. I’ve received requests like this before and simply deleted them, but for whatever reason, I replied back saying that I might be interested, depending on the size of the ad and what they were advertising. After a couple of emails back and forth and reading the terms and conditions of the ad, I realized that the “small text ad” was a backlink. What’s a backlink? Glad you asked:

A backlink is a link coming from another website to your own. The number and quality of backlinks that your site has can affect your search engine optimization efforts, as some search engines provide significant weight to the backlinks of a site. (Source: About.com)

I use backlinks all the time. Whether it’s to link back to a previous post I’ve written or to provide a link back to another site I’ve referenced in a blog post. But that’s different. I make it clear (at least I hope I do) that if you click on the link it’s going to take you exactly where you expect to go. And based on the sample copy they provided me, that’s not exactly how these backlinks work. In exchange for a set payment to me (which, under the terms and conditions of the agreement, I would not be allowed to tell you about), I would write a blog post and place a backlink back to their client’s sight within the body of the text. So, it might look something like this:

Child of the 80’s

image courtesy of photobucket.com

My formative years of junior high and high school were spent in the late 70’s to mid 80’s. Musically speaking, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was a time when MTV and VH1 actually played music videos instead of mind numbing, soul sucking reality television 24-7. It was the era of the Go-go’s, the B-52’s, Peter Gabriel and Rick Astley. Good times, bad times. You know I’ve had my share.

See what I did there? If you clicked on “Rick Astley”, you got Rick-rolled. And that’s essentially what I think these hidden text ads are equivalent to. They’re inherently dishonest, and I just can’t have ads like that on my blog no matter how much they’re offering to pay me for the space. When I expressed my reservations about these type of ads, their response was to offer me more money.

Long story short, they will not be placing ads on this site now or ever. I appreciate that you take time out of your busy days to visit this silly little blog, and the least I can do to show my appreciation is to be upfront about what you’re going to find here. In the words of Rick Astley, Never gonna give you up, never go let you down, never gonna run around and desert you. Never gonna make you cry, never gonna say goodbye. Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you.

image courtesy of photobucket.com

If I ever DO run ads on this site, they will be for products or services I unequivocally stand behind and support like New Blog Hosting or SwitchFlops by Lindsay Phillips (who currently does not advertise on this site, but call me, we’ll talk. I love me a good flip flop.)