GoDaddy aired a commercial during Super Bowl XLIX - but it wasn't the spot it originally had planned.
On the Tuesday before the game GoDaddy announced it was pulling the Super Bowl ad it had debuted online that day after animal campaigners complained it could encourage people to buy pets irresponsibly. The ad, which had aimed to parody Budweiser's popular puppy Super Bowl spots, saw a cute little Golden Retriever puppy (called Buddy) being sold online.
A Change.org petition calling for GoDaddy to can the ad gained more than 42,000 supporters, while animal lovers also petitioned the company via Twitter. GoDaddy responded by apologizing and pulling the commercial.
With just days to go and having already spent $4.5 million to secure 30-seconds of big game air time, GoDaddy's ad agency created an ad in 24-hours from file footage, according to AdAge. It's narrated by the agency's art director, who had apparently never done any voiceover work before.
Here's the new spot:
And this was the original (forgive the quality of the video; the official version has been taken down from YouTube):