20,000 Tell Go Daddy to Go Away
After PETA’s “Scummiest CEO of the Year” winner, Go Daddy CEO Bob Parsons, bragged about shooting an African elephant and displaying a photograph of himself as he grinned over the body (which was straight out of old African bwana movies), things really started to go south for him. Domain name rival NameCheap offered disgusted Go Daddy customers discounted transfers to its service, as well as a $1 donation to an African elephant protection group for every transferred account. NameCheap’s latest blog entry reports $20,433 raised for Save the Elephants. And that only includes people who transferred to NameCheap after dropping Go Daddy—it doesn’t count those who transferred to other providers. As a result, Go Daddy’s domain sales have dropped like a stone.
Parsons’ shot was heard ’round the world and earned him far-flung criticism. PETA pal Cloris Leachman is the spokesperson for another Go Daddy rival, Network Solutions, but it was her own convictions that led her to Twitter in order to level punches at Parsons, such as this one: “Elephants are meant to be loved, not mercilessly shot to death.”
In an insightful piece he wrote for The Huffington Post, Will Travers, the CEO of animal protection group Born Free USA (and son of Born Free stars Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna), said of Parsons: “The truth is that shooting one animal rarely if ever resolves conflict. … If he really wants to help, then investing in long-term, humane, and non-lethal solutions is the answer, and he has the means to do so if he so wished.”
You have the means to save African elephants, too, by refusing to patronize Parson’s company and instead using a domain-hosting service that does not promote cruelty to animals.
Written by Michelle Sherrow
