Ad Fumble: GoDaddy Pulls Super Bowl Puppy Commercial Amid Outrage

The Web hosting company GoDaddy has pulled its latest Super Bowl ad, which featured a lost puppy, following a social media backlash.

In the ad, the lost puppy returns home only to find that his owners have sold him using a website made with GoDaddy.

You can watch the video below:

The ad, titled Journey Home, is an apparent parody of this year's Budweiser ad that features the unlikely friendship between a Lab puppy and a Clydesdale.

But not everyone found the ad funny. Animal-rights groups such as SPCA said the ad promoted puppy mills. And the commercial, which was released today, prompted outrage on social media. Here is a sample:

The company quickly backtracked in a blog post, titled "We're Listening, Message Received." GoDaddy said it "underestimated the emotional response" to the ad and would pull it from the Super Bowl.

And, the statement added: "Finally, rest assured, Buddy came to us from a reputable and loving breeder in California. He's now part of the GoDaddy family as our Chief Companion Officer and he lives permanently with one of our longtime employees."

And while we're on the topic of Super Bowl ads and dogs. Here's this year's Budweiser ad, Lost Dog.