Confession: I'm a christian entrepreneur and I purchase all my domains and SSL certificates from GoDaddy. I never got the memo that I should boycott their services.
I have no problem with groups (christian or not) choosing to boycott certain companies because they object to their marketing practices. But I personally don't have time to cherry-pick these companies myself and make a public statement out of it.
I'm too busy trying to nurture my own family and business to worry about GoDaddy.
One last note: when it comes to watching sports (which my daughters enjoy watching with me), I find ads for E.D. treatments much more uncomfortable than GoDaddy's.
I find ads for E.D. treatments much more uncomfortable than GoDaddy's.
You are certainly not the only one. Sports fan friends with kids mentioned E.D. ads on sports games over the holidays. They like to watch games as a family, but the ads make them think twice. I can't say I blame them.
I see this as part of a larger problem that the only way we currently have to control the ads we see is to just turn off or change the channel.
I was just on GoDaddy this morning trying to change some DNS settings for one of my domains. I made the changes and clicked 'submit' only to find they pushed an up-sell ad in there and made me click another 'submit' button to make the changes. On a freakin' settings page!
I'm an atheist and a confirmed sexual libertine but those ads pissed me off too. Too tacky even for the Superbowl, which is saying something.
Much worse, though, was the ad for some damn NBC crime drama which showed some pretty young girl falling into the hands of a serial killer, then showed him burying her in a shallow grave down by the river or something. Yet another show about fear, pain and misery.
Anytime you take a strong position on anything you risk losing part of your client base. A lot of people (myself included) feel strongly about how portraying sexuality in certain ways can impact a societies attitudes in a negative manner. The fact that those opinions affect purchasing habits stands to reason.
No, some Christians are bailing on GoDaddy because of the ads. Many of us just don't care.
A whole lot of Christians are not Fundamentalist Christians who want to control your life and dictate your morals. Unfortunately, the sane ones don't get nearly as much press.
Well, if a person's Christianity doesn't affect others, then it doesn't really matter to others that they're a Christian, does it? Someone trying to control my life is exactly the sort of thing I'd want to hear about, if it's happening. :)
I don't think you have to be a fundamentalist to have a problem with companies that run sexually suggestive advertising on programs that children are watching.
I am unhappy with Hostmonster. They auto renewed my account 15 days before it expired and it cost me $120 for a basic package. Sure, they probably told me in fine print when I checked the renew option, but who can remembers what they read in fine print 350 days ago? At least Godaddy only costs me $4 a month for auto renew.
This kinda stuff makes me really cross/sick; as someone majorly opposed to cencorship....
It's a fairly pathetic episode and a sad description on modern religion.
(as an addendum when I asked the Church at the end of the road to stop handing leaflets/preaching to my young cousin as she walked passed I got into all sorts of trouble for religious descrimination.... double standards!).
This isn't censorship, it's a boycott, and it's a perfectly valid way to express your dislike for a company's PR decisions. I don't care about the ads, but I wish more consumers would put their money where their mouth is in dealing with company practices they find inappropriate.
Censorship would be these groups lobbying the FCC to ban the commercials.
Parent is trolling, but there is an interesting slippery slope here that should be explored.
If a government shuts down GoDaddy's web ads, that's censorship.
Writing a law as a member of the Senate to shut down Godaddy's web ads is probably censorship.
Is organizing a lobby to campaign to shut down their web ads censorship?
Is writing a blog post asking people to vote for a law in which Godaddy's web ads are shut down censorship?
Is voting for such a law censorship?
Is saying "we should have such a law" censorship?
In a democracy, at what point do we go from saying "Godaddy should shut up", which is a first amendment right, to full-on censorship? A government is full of people; there's nothing fundamentally different about a group of people executing their rights in a boycott and a group of people exercising their voting rights to accomplish some goal.
I thought the ads were stupid and tasteless... but come on, you're already watching war porn (pro sports) and you are going to get upset about some cleavage?
That's rather a sensationalist way of putting it. Different people watch football for different reasons. Yes, psychologically sports exist as a way of channelling male aggression (which is a fascinating subject besides) but people don't watch it as an alternative to watching war. There's an element to entertainment like the Superbowl that nothing else has.
Also, it's an old adage that America's fine with violence but hates breasts and naughty language. See South Park/every anti-censorship comedy ever made in America.
Also also, it;s fair enough to say you don't want to deal with a domain host because they think the best way to advertise services is to wave tits in your face. I'm regretting that I use it to register domains, because frankly I'd like to hold companies to a slightly higher level of self-respect.
[+] [-] callmeed|17 years ago|reply
I have no problem with groups (christian or not) choosing to boycott certain companies because they object to their marketing practices. But I personally don't have time to cherry-pick these companies myself and make a public statement out of it.
I'm too busy trying to nurture my own family and business to worry about GoDaddy.
One last note: when it comes to watching sports (which my daughters enjoy watching with me), I find ads for E.D. treatments much more uncomfortable than GoDaddy's.
[+] [-] blogimus|17 years ago|reply
You are certainly not the only one. Sports fan friends with kids mentioned E.D. ads on sports games over the holidays. They like to watch games as a family, but the ads make them think twice. I can't say I blame them.
I see this as part of a larger problem that the only way we currently have to control the ads we see is to just turn off or change the channel.
[+] [-] exfswlkrji|17 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tsally|17 years ago|reply
Also: http://nodaddy.com
And a comic I find particularly funny: http://echopic.com/gnv
[+] [-] tortilla|17 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sant0sk1|17 years ago|reply
What'd you end up switching to?
[+] [-] brm|17 years ago|reply
[+] [-] phony_identity|17 years ago|reply
Much worse, though, was the ad for some damn NBC crime drama which showed some pretty young girl falling into the hands of a serial killer, then showed him burying her in a shallow grave down by the river or something. Yet another show about fear, pain and misery.
[+] [-] TrevorJ|17 years ago|reply
[+] [-] glomek|17 years ago|reply
A whole lot of Christians are not Fundamentalist Christians who want to control your life and dictate your morals. Unfortunately, the sane ones don't get nearly as much press.
[+] [-] randallsquared|17 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tptacek|17 years ago|reply
[+] [-] custie|17 years ago|reply
[+] [-] astrodust|17 years ago|reply
[+] [-] giles_bowkett|17 years ago|reply
[+] [-] giles_bowkett|17 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ErrantX|17 years ago|reply
It's a fairly pathetic episode and a sad description on modern religion.
(as an addendum when I asked the Church at the end of the road to stop handing leaflets/preaching to my young cousin as she walked passed I got into all sorts of trouble for religious descrimination.... double standards!).
/rant over (sorry)
[+] [-] wheels|17 years ago|reply
Censorship would be these groups lobbying the FCC to ban the commercials.
[+] [-] drewcrawford|17 years ago|reply
If a government shuts down GoDaddy's web ads, that's censorship.
Writing a law as a member of the Senate to shut down Godaddy's web ads is probably censorship.
Is organizing a lobby to campaign to shut down their web ads censorship?
Is writing a blog post asking people to vote for a law in which Godaddy's web ads are shut down censorship?
Is voting for such a law censorship?
Is saying "we should have such a law" censorship?
In a democracy, at what point do we go from saying "Godaddy should shut up", which is a first amendment right, to full-on censorship? A government is full of people; there's nothing fundamentally different about a group of people executing their rights in a boycott and a group of people exercising their voting rights to accomplish some goal.
[+] [-] jcromartie|17 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unalone|17 years ago|reply
Also, it's an old adage that America's fine with violence but hates breasts and naughty language. See South Park/every anti-censorship comedy ever made in America.
Also also, it;s fair enough to say you don't want to deal with a domain host because they think the best way to advertise services is to wave tits in your face. I'm regretting that I use it to register domains, because frankly I'd like to hold companies to a slightly higher level of self-respect.