Sunday, June 15, 2008
Tucson Querido is Boycotting GoDaddy
I know Go Daddy's advertising has been considered "edgy", and I even chuckled at the Beaver Commercial above, but CEO and Founder Bob Parson's Video Blog bugs the crap out of me. I even wrote Danica Patrick an email:
"Dear Danica,
I've been using Go Daddy as the Registrar for my websites until recently. When I saw this Video Blog posting by their CEO, Bill Parson's, (Episode #9) I decided to take my business elsewhere:
http://www.bobparsons.tv/HowtomakeitBIG-GoDaddyGirlstyleCAUTIONMATURECONTENT.html?showChart=1&watch=1
It's offensive to me because:
1. It assumes a predominately male heterosexual audience, again. It ignores me as a female consumer of Go Daddy services. I'm not gaining pleasure from the buxom brunets. (I am one, and get to see myself in the mirror every day so this isn't exciting to me.)
2. It's patriarchal. Mr. Parson's "advice" to the Go Daddy girls is ludicrous and patronizing. The girls are only there so men can have a laugh and a chubby at their expense.
3. It makes you look bad. I know that it must be hard to straddle the line between professional race car driver and sex symbol and be taken seriously, but in this Video montage, your image clearly gets shoved to one side of the line. To see you - a female pioneer in racing - lumped in so casually with a bunch of Barbie dolls! This wouldn't happen to a male driver. Is Danica Patrick a "Go Daddy Girl" or a professional race car driver? Please don't ignore this double standard.
Divorce this sponsor!
Sincerely,
Eva Romero
Tucson, AZ"
I did a little Google searching on Bob Parsons and GoDaddy and found that sexism isn't the only reason to boycott. There's also the issue of censorship (GoDaddy Silences RateMyCop.com) and condoning torture(Does your Web Host condone torture? GoDaddy.com does!).
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
4 comments:
Wow! Loads of pertinent and interesting facts. Thanks Eva! Shove it GoDaddy!
Some alternatives I've researched:
gandi.net, a french registrar is all about your rights online and supports many good causes.
http://www.gandi.net/supports/
However, they are nearly twice as expensive as GoDaddy.
register.com, a private company run by two brothers, still one of the biggest registrars. Looks pretty innocuous in general, and not too expensive.
NetworkSolutions, the original registrar. Usually very expensive, but they they probably have good utilities. They have been known to do some pretty underhanded things(sex.com).
Finding a decent registrar is like balancing the lesser of many evils.
Big registrars typically are cheaper and have better options, but may have poor customer service, or in GoDaddy's case, sexist marketing and bad politics.
Smaller registrars may have fewer support options, and in some cases like registerfly.com, leave you completely stranded.
In any case, you're going to find detractors.
I also have a domain registered through the swiss government, and though not cheap, i'm not sure you can get more neutral than Switzerland.
You go, girl.
I also wrote to Danica about the vlog. Disgusting. I am a GoDaddy customer and even though it's expensive and a big effort, I will switch my domains elsewhere.
Post a Comment