Go Daddy Gone

"Mr. Treehorn treats objects like women, man."

- The Dude


Wow, way to knock accused sexual slavedriver Dov Charney off his perch as the internet's most hated CEO.

Bob Parsons, who as CEO of godaddy.com is also known for sexually objectifying women in his ads, apparently also thinks he's a big game hunter:




This bizarre video shows Parsons as a Great White Hunter "saving" an African village in Zimbabwe from sorghum-trampling elephants. The villagers then butcher and eat it.

Sound like a scene from 100 years ago? Now, to be fair, the Zimbabweans in the video seem pretty happy about the whole thing. And elephants can cause havoc with farms.

But it raises these questions:

•  Isn't animal control a game warden's job?
• -Even if they decided the herd needed culling, is it a good idea to sell the opportunity to an American jerk who thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt?
• Should shooting an endangered, highly-intelligent and social animal be "beneficial and rewarding"? (Parson's own description of the experience)
• Might the rest of the herd not come back for vengeance?
• And what does AC?DC think of their music being associated with this? (Ted Nugent would have been a more appropriate choice.)

PETA (who Adland point out are registered with godaddy.com - as are some of my company's properties...) have of course called for a boycott, but as usual oversell the case by basically condemning all hunting as inhumane.

For me, at least until I know more details of the animal management policy behind it, it's the attitude that irks most. There is a creepy parallel between a man who treats women as sex objects and who feels no shame in posing as a macho big game hunter.

Although Adland's Dabitch notes: "killing problem animals gets people more outraged than objectifying women in sexist shite ads - perhaps I should go trample some farmers crops and get shot so us women can be worth as much as an elephant."

What do you think? Will you go "Go Daddy Gone" over this one?


Violent Femmes Gone Daddy Gone by Celtiemama

UPDATE: Parsons tells his side of the story:

"I spend a few weeks in Zimbabwe each year helping the farmers deal with problem elephants. The people there have very little, many die each year from starvation and one of the problems they have is the elephants, of which there are thousands and thousands, that trash many of their fields destroying the crops. The tribal authorities request that I and others like me, patrol the fields before and during the harvest -- we can't cover them all, there are just a few of us -- and drive the elephant from the fields. The farmers try to run the elephants away by cracking whips, beating drums and lighting fires. All of this is ignored by the elephants. When my team catch elephants in a field (there are never just one) we typically kill one of them and the rest leave for good. After we kill an elephant the people butcher the elephant and it feeds a number of villages. These people have literally nothing and when an elephant is killed it's a big event for them, they are going to be able to eat some protein. This is no different than you or I eating beef. If at all possible we avoid elephant cows and only kill mature bulls. By just killing bulls it has no effect on the elephant social structure (as it is matriarchal) as well as the herd size. The reason is another bull quickly steps up and breeds in place of the bull taken."