News Flash
As I understand it, I will be appearing in the "No Spin Zone" on The O'Reilly Factor, tomorrow Feb 11, on Fox TV. I'm looking forward to it. Now, back to the Blog....

Here's what happened.
Unless you've been living in a cave, by now you should be well aware that the following events took place during Super Bowl Sunday:

1. GoDaddy.com purchased two advertising spots during the Super Bowl. One was during the fourth break in the first quarter of the game. The other was during the final two minute warning.
2. The ad that Go Daddy submitted to Fox, and which was to show in both spots, was approved — in writing — by Fox well in advance of the Super Bowl.
3. Sometime after the first ad was aired, NFL chief operating officer Roger Godell expressed "disappointment" to Fox, and, that our commercial was inappropriate.
4. When the final two minute warning rolled around, and we were expecting to see the second showing of our commercial, Fox chose to air a commercial for The Simpsons in place of our commercial, to our great disappointment.
5. We did not learn that Fox decided not to air our commercial until we were able to track down the President of Fox Sports Sales, Jim Barnett, who was at the Super Bowl. It was at this time, that we were first informed of Mr. Barnett's meeting with Mr.Godell, and Fox's decision to bend to the NFL's request.
6. Given the normal programming we ordinarily see on The Fox Networks (i.e. FOX, FX), we found Fox's decision to pull our ad from running during the second spot, to be a very hypocritical and "un-Fox-like" move.
7. Both commercial spots were paid for by Go Daddy in advance, and acknowledged and approved in writing by Fox. We are presently in touch with Fox in an attempt to reach an amicable solution to the situation they have created. We would like to avoid resorting to working through the court system, but won't hesitate to do so if we feel it is necessary.

Many people stood up and cheered.
Since the commercial aired (and the ensuing controversy took place), we have heard from many people who saw our "banned" commercial either on the Super Bowl or on the Go Daddy web site. Far and away, most people liked the commercial. I even had reports that after the commercial aired during the first quarter, some people actually stood up and cheered.

How to see the banned commercial.
If you haven't seen the commercial (or the special 2 minute edition of the full hearing), you can see it by clicking on the following link (or copying and pasting it into your browser):

videos.godaddy.com/bobsblog/avplayerpopup.aspx?mediaIds=sb05,sb05ext.

Not everyone liked the commercial.
Not everyone liked the commercial, and I've received a number of posts and emails claiming it was indecent, immoral, degrading to women, and inappropriate for children to see. As I disagree with all of these comments, I thought it about time that I address this criticism "head on" right here.

Take a close look at the commercial.
If you watch our commercial closely you will notice that what you see is no worse than what you might see while walking down the street on most summer days. For example:

1. Candice (the actress who performs in the commercial) is completely clothed. It's true that she's wearing a tank top. But no part of Candice's breasts are showing and it's difficult to see any cleavage.
2. There were no close-ups of Candice that bared anything.
3. Candice made no suggestive moves during the commercial.
4. Candice said nothing during the commercial that was suggestive.
5. Anyone who takes a trip to the mall will see far more skin bared than what is seen in our commercial.
6. When one of Candice's spaghetti straps pop at the beginning the commercial, she catches it instantly and nothing is bared as a result.
7. Close-ups of the Philadelphia cheerleaders, right at the end of the 1st quarter, bared far more — and were far more suggestive — than anything that took place in our commercial.
8. There is nothing in our commercial inappropriate for a child to see.

What are we guilty of?
Here's what we're guilty of:

1. We selected a very attractive, well-endowed, 26 year-old woman for our commercial.
2. We indirectly (by having her right spaghetti strap snap at the beginning of the commercial) referred to the Janet Jackson episode.
3. Our commercial was a parody of the censorship we are seeing today, and that's something certain people do not want in the public light.

Our commercial will be mentioned and shown for years to come.
Overall, I am comfortable that we did nothing wrong. In fact, I believe our commercial will be mentioned and shown for many years to come.

There's one more issue I want to address head on.
As many people know, the first company I started and sold to Intuit was called Parsons Technology. We had a number of product divisions at Parsons Technology. Our product divisions follow:

1. Financial (this included accounting, money management, and tax preparation products).
2. Legal (document preparation for home and small business).
3. Personal productivity (greeting card makers, address books, etc.)
4. Utilities (virus detection and removal, etc.)
5. Church Software (Bible lookup software, Map software, Sermon preparation, Congregational accounting).

It's true. I used to sell Bible software.
I've received criticism because I used to sell Bible software.
Since the Super Bowl ad was aired and banned, I've heard from many people who have said:

1. What happened to you? How could you have changed so much since back then?
2. How is it a man who made millions from selling Bible software made a commercial that was banned by Fox from being shown a second time?

My response to this criticism.
It's true; our church software division was profitable. However, I made most of my money on the financial, legal and other products.

To this day I consider myself a Christian, but I am not a fundamentalist Christian. I am also not a member of the religious right. I am not opposed in anyway to these groups. I am just not part of them. My beliefs today are exactly what they were back when I owned Parsons Technology. I'm still the same guy.

The Bible software was the brainchild of Craig Rairdin.
Our church software division was the brainchild of a man named Craig Rairdin. Craig, on his own, wrote the first QuickVerse program, and did it before joining Parsons Technology. When Craig showed me the program that he had written, I knew instantly that it was well done and would be a hit. Within a few weeks, Craig was our Director of Church Software, and QuickVerse was a Parsons Technology product.

Being a hard worker, Craig soon began hiring additional staff and developing additional Christian products. While Parsons Technology marketed QuickVerse, Craig owned the rights to the product, and after I sold Parsons Technology to Intuit, Craig later sold the rights to QuickVerse to another company.

Today, Craig Rairdin owns his own company. He specializes in Bible lookup and Christian software for hand held computers. His company is called Laridian Electronic Publishing and can be found at http://www.Laridian.com

There is no inconsistency.
I find nothing inconsistent with Go Daddy's Super Bowl ad, and the fact that I used to be involved with selling Bible software and am a moderate Christian. I've also discussed the issue with Craig, and he agrees.

Finally, why all comments do not get posted.
I appreciate everyone who takes the time to comment on the articles I post on this blog. Please understand that unless your comments get read and reviewed by me, they don't get posted. Some days I literally receive hundreds of comments, and simply can't get to them all. I read as many as I can, and then delete the rest (both positive and negative). This might not be the best solution, but at least it lets me start fresh during the next day.

No comment gets posted that doesn't comply with the rules that I have set forth for this blog. You can find those rules in an earlier article. One sure way not to get your comment posted, is to start it with the following sentence, "Bob, I know you won't post this comment." Because I have so many comments to look through, when I see this sentence, I agree with the writer and immediately press the delete key.