GoDaddy pulled the plug on its Super Bowl commercial starring Buddy the golden retriever puppy Tuesday evening after getting an earful from furious animal rights activists. The domain name company released the ad Tuesday - five days before it will be viewed by more than 100million people during the Patriots and Seahawks game - and it was roundly criticized for apparently making light of puppy mills. The advert opens with the nine-week-old pooch riding in the back of a truck, as it parodies Budweiser's commercials featuring a dog and its Clydesdale horses. But instead of enjoying the view, Buddy is thrown from the bed of the truck and he faces a treacherous journey home across train tracks and bridges and through mud and rain.
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GoDaddy released its 2015 Super Bowl commercial starring Buddy the golden retriever Tuesday
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The commercial features a golden retriever puppy who makes his way home after being thrown from a truck - only to find out he's being sold
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His owners used GoDaddy to make a website to sell him
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The company said it was parodying other puppy Super Bowl adverts
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But viewers were outraged and slammed the company for making light of puppy mills and irresponsible dog breeding
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GoDaddy CEO Blake Irving released a statement Tuesday evening saying the ad will not been showing during the Big Game
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Petition on Change.org demanding that GoDaddy yank the commercial has drawn more than 42,000 signatures
Message received: It did not take @placeholder long to do an about-face in response to an avalanche of vitriol