Might Go Daddy have to sign up another attractive, underachieving female athlete for its next round of Super Bowl advertisements this February? That might be the case, as it appears Danica Patrick and the controversial web hosting provider look to be on the outs at the moment.
USA Today has the details:
Patrick, 30, has starred in more Super Bowl spots – 10 – than any other celebrity, including Michael Jordan and Cindy Crawford. Overall, she's appeared in 22 Go Daddy commercials since 2007 and is believed to earn upwards of $1 million annually for those commercial efforts. But Patrick has not appeared in a Go Daddy spot for months, and the company says it has no current plans to feature her in any spots at least through January.
"The question at hand is: Is she in the Super Bowl or not?" says Barb Rechterman, chief marketing officer at Go Daddy. "What we're trying to do is redefine sexy to be a small-business owner running a successful business. So we want to explore options of how we make our advertising new." Go Daddy also has had recent management shake-ups, and its sky-high growth rate has come down to earth.
Danica Patrick in limbo with Go Daddy [USA Today]