As someone who has worked with ecologists in the field on a number of wildlife projects in rural Africa, I find this to be truly repugnant. There are many ways of controlling "problem elephants" other than killing them -- in fact, killing an elephant is almost never an option. If the villagers don't have the financial resources to implement non-lethal control measures, I'm sure Bob Parsons does.
How to damage your brand in one smooth shot - Way to GoDaddy
91–100 of 334 posts
Re: How to damage your brand in one smooth shot - Way to GoDaddy
#92I guess I'll be the lone discenting voice and say I don't think it's that bad. Bob Parsons has always run his company the way he wants, and he has particular freedom to do so since he has zero investors and is the sole owner. He does certain things for shock value, such as the super bowl commercials, which by the way caused outage with a completely different demographic of people. Slaughtering an elephant might offen…
While I respect your opinions in support of Parsons, I'm going to have to disagree with you on a lot of your arguments.
>Bob Parsons has always run his company the way he wants, and he has particular freedom to do so since he has zero investors and is the sole owner
Parsons does have the freedom to do what he likes but there are consequences to those actions. No one is questioning his freedom to do what he chooses.
> He does certain things for shock value...
True but I think killing an elephant and then posting a video about it is a bit different than showing scantily clad women dancing on the hood of a convertible. Both can be equally demeaning and morally questionable to certain parts of the population but let's be real here, killing an "innocent animal" is much more controversial than what is shown on TV almost every night.
> Slaughtering an elephant might offend some of your sensibilities, but hunting in Africa is wide spread and as long as the elephant is not endangered, I don't think your outrage has a leg to stand on.
Not sure if you read the article but Jacques specifically states there's a clear difference between a rich dude shooting the Elephant and a native Zimbabwean game warden doing it to protect his crops (which btw, there are many other ways of going about that than shooting it). The psychology behind the former doing it can be extremely powerful (and enraging) compared to the latter.
> There are much worse things going on in America's food industry then this.
Agreed. But that's missing the point.
> I can understand how this might offend vegetarians but even then, it's not like the animal was wasted.
I'd assume this statement was more offensive to vegetarians than watching that video. I'd assume that b/c I am one.
Re: How to damage your brand in one smooth shot - Way to GoDaddy
#93Unfortunately all my domains are with GoDaddy. Moving them ASAP. It is unacceptable for such a big company to have its CEO involved in something like this. For years we've been discussing social responsibilities of the enterprise (I've been on it since 1998 here in Brazil) and then we see something like this. If it has the potential to make one disappointed and wonder if she shouldn't give up the fight, it also makes…
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Re: How to damage your brand in one smooth shot - Way to GoDaddy
#94Wow. Just wow. Having been to Africa and seen elephants in the wild up close, among other animals, I simply can't stomach that I'm supporting a bunch of fat white Americans flying half way around the world to destroy a magnificent animal simply because they can. I'll be moving my domains away from GoDaddy asap.
>> I'll be moving my domains away from GoDaddy asap.
I moved all my domains, ~30, from GoDaddy about 18 months ago. It was a slog. There was no "asap" to it. It took about 2 months to get them all moved over to namecheap. Transfers gets curtailed for various reasons and the current registrar is usually little help in solving the mysteries.
I'm telling you this not to take the wind from your sails but to prep you for a bit more effort.
The reason for my move was the full-on "retail experience" of GoDaddy. It just didn't work for me anymore. I wanted a more spartan registrar.
Re: How to damage your brand in one smooth shot - Way to GoDaddy
#95Thanks for putting this out there. Just transferred my domains and hosting away from GoDaddy. I won't even get into how I hate the needless killing of ANY animal. There are almost always alternatives.
Re: How to damage your brand in one smooth shot - Way to GoDaddy
#96This is stupid. If the elephant is going to be shot by a warden anyway, WHY NOT let some rich american shoot it? Why does it matter WHO shoots the elephant? It doesn't! If you want to argue about whether the elephant SHOULD have been killed, that's fine. There is plenty to debate there. But who does the shooting is of no importance. That said he's right that as a CEO you represent your company--especially when you're…
I wonder what the best way to cook corn-fed elephant is? Maybe montreal steak seasoning, a cajun dry-rub, southern-style malt vinegar bbq sauce, something else (http://funkymunky.co.za/elephantstew.html)?
But, seriously, if we as a society are so concerned about dwindling elephant numbers, why aren't we actively managing them as a luxury food source instead of leaving them to their own devices on the savannah where they frequently(?) tick-off the locals. Why aren't there enterprising elephant ranchers in the open spaces of Texas? I would think that mesquite-scrub country would be great elephant habitat. That rancher is going to make damn sure he has a sustainable population of elephants, because if he doesn't, there goes his livelihood. And, I imagine that the rancher could profit handsomely off of just the pure novelty of the product. I know I would pay quite a bit for elephant steaks.
Re: How to damage your brand in one smooth shot - Way to GoDaddy
#97Note: Submitted by me, by hand, after reading the posting and deciding it's relevant to startups. Branding is important, and what you do with your brand is important. Actions speak louder than words. Google is still associated with "Do no Evil," but that's starting to wear a little thin as some of their actions belie the mantra. Similarly, you can get people chanting a slogan, but if you do something wrong, people wi…
This is a CEO who, in 2005, posted a blog article talking about why we have to torture prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, because (mumble mumble) 9/11. He deleted both the original post and a half-retraction shortly thereafter, or I'd provide a link. As such, I'm not surprised that he turned his personal hunting exhibition into a marketing expense. He seems to have a deaf ear when it comes to brand management. And that doe…
Right, I find it difficult to believe that any of this was uncalculated (does that make me a high-mach?)
They appear to target the bottom 90% who needs a domain name. And, they very wisely get name recognition with non tech savvy business owners who often have the ultimate decision in which registrar to use.
Look at it from the vantage of a typical conservative small business owner here in America. Slaughtering a beautiful and rare animal is not deaf-ear branding - it's shrewd marketing. GoDaddy is not afraid to kill to solve problems. The association is powerful and on target.
Re: How to damage your brand in one smooth shot - Way to GoDaddy
#98I guess I'll be the lone discenting voice and say I don't think it's that bad. Bob Parsons has always run his company the way he wants, and he has particular freedom to do so since he has zero investors and is the sole owner. He does certain things for shock value, such as the super bowl commercials, which by the way caused outage with a completely different demographic of people. Slaughtering an elephant might offen…
While I respect your opinions in support of Parsons, I'm going to have to disagree with you on a lot of your arguments. >Bob Parsons has always run his company the way he wants, and he has particular freedom to do so since he has zero investors and is the sole owner Parsons does have the freedom to do what he likes but there are consequences to those actions. No one is questioning his freedom to do what he chooses. >…
Both can be equally demeaning and morally questionable to certain parts of the population but let's be real here, killing an "innocent animal" is much more controversial than what is shown on TV almost every night.
In a culture where steakhouses dot the roadsides, it seems odd to assert that killing an "innocent animal" is controversial at all. In some US locality where vegetarians make up the vast majority of the population, maybe, but does a place like that even exist?
I haven't seen the video; I'm just speaking to that one sentence, really.
Re: How to damage your brand in one smooth shot - Way to GoDaddy
#99I don't agree with GoDaddy's lowest common denominator branding strategy, but it seems to have served them well over the years. It's hard to argue with results. Make no mistake though, this is just as much a part of their branding strategy as their stupid, tasteless Super Bowl commercials. They'll probably make a token PR apology to hedge their bets here, but this reinforces their "brand" more than it damages it.
To paraphrase P.T. Barnum "No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the buying public."
Re: How to damage your brand in one smooth shot - Way to GoDaddy
#100You have to wonder who is/are the animal(s) here?