The 2013 Super Bowl gave people plenty to talk about other than football:
Beyoncé, a blackout and, for the first time, the Jewish state.
Israeli
supermodel Bar Refaeli featured in one of the most talked-about commercials of
the event, an advertisement for Internet domain hosting company
GoDaddy.
The 30-second clip entitled “Perfect Match” featured Refaeli in
an excruciatingly loud make-out session with a plump computer nerd, as an
announcer explained that the company was a perfect combination of sexy and
smart.
GoDaddy capitalized on the audacious ad by releasing a teaser ad
ahead of time and a longer, uncensored, “edgier” version of the ad (which it
says CBS rejected) on their website. The company has frequently dangled the
promise of explicit advertisements to draw potential customers to their website,
courting controversy and accusations of inappropriateness to draw
audiences.
“Inappropriate? Hearing that word, I absolutely knew we were
in for a record Super Bowl ad campaign,” said GoDaddy’s executive chairman and
founder Bob Parson.
“And by the way, I think both of our ads were the
funniest in the game, by far.”
According to GoDaddy, the ads delivered
more new customers and overall sales than any other Super Bowl campaign in the
company’s history.
Speaking to Israeli media, Refaeli simply remarked
that fellow actor Jesse Heiman was an excellent kisser.
Israel’s reach
into the advertising world did not stop with Refaeli,
however.
SodaStream, an Israeli company that has been targeted by boycott
groups for manufacturing its beverage carbonating machines in the West Bank,
made history for being the first Israeli company to buy a Super Bowl ad. The
30-second spot featured warehouses full of exploding 2-liter soda bottles,
emphasizing the environmental benefits of consumers make their own bubbly water
at home.
SodaStream CEO Daniel Birnbaum rejected criticism lobbed at the
company, telling media that the company doesn’t “strengthen or support the
occupation.”
“What we’re doing is taking a facility in the occupied
territory and giving Palestinians a career and economic benefits.
I’ve
got to laugh when they think we’re on the wrong side of this. We’re part of the
solution. We build bridges, not walls,” he said.
Though it did not manage
to make quite the same wave as the commercial from GoDaddy, SodaStream’s first
ad submission was also banned. In the original, the exploding soda bottles were
explicitly labeled as Coca-Cola and Pepsi. CBS did not want to air commercials
trashing other companies that shelled out millions for SuperBowl ads.