Marketing? The Real Story Behind Bob Parson's Elephant-Killing "Safari"

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Why is it that many people prefer to only look at one side of a situation to make their decisions ?

Here is another side of the story that hasn't been told yet:

The Real Story Behind Bob Parson's Elephant-Killing "Safari" [PICS]

It would be interesting to know the demographics of those people who jumped to conclusions about the original story, i.e. are they successful businesspeople? And ditto for those that didn't?

And does this change any opinions about the marketing of the original story?

Or, and this is conspiracy speaking, is it possible that the original story was put out so that GoDaddy would end up looking better than their competitors? I like this one the best as everyone likes a good conspiracy .

Marvin
#“safari” #bob #elephantkilling #parson’s #parson’s #real #story
  • Profile picture of the author Linda_C
    I don't dispute that elephants cause havoc for poor farmers in Zimbabwe. I realize killing one bull elephant would scare the herd off so crops aren't destroyed further. And that one bull elephant can provide a LOT of food for the people.

    BUT -- I think video-taping the villagers hacking up the elephant while wearing bright orange GoDaddy hats (and then posting it to YouTube) was in poor taste.

    Imagine if Bill Gates shot video-tape spoon-feeding starving children in Africa... but first made sure to give them Microsoft tshirts... and then video taped and uploaded it to Youtube. That would be over the top ick. Same concept. Blech.

    If some CEO wants to do "good deeds" - by all means. The world could use a few more people who give back. But putting your logo on the "poor hungry third world faces" and shooting YouTube video just makes it feel skeevy. Ick.

    My 2 cents, anyway.
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  • Profile picture of the author Marc Rodill
    Cool article. First time I heard about this. Thanks for the share.

    I think most people are naturally better at giving their opinion about something they've seen, than they are at thinking about the potential benefits of creating an event that people see and feel compelled, as if their duty, to express their opinion about.

    Point in case, the CEO of GoDaddy doesn't care if people think his actions are in poor taste. He just does what he thinks is right for him according to him, figures out how to bank on it, and rightly so. A good example of not trying to change human nature, but using it to your advantage. Props.

    PS. I'm still not sure what you were tryign to say in your OP.
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    • Profile picture of the author Marvin Johnston
      Originally Posted by Marc Rodill View Post

      Cool article. First time I heard about this. Thanks for the share.

      PS. I'm still not sure what you were tryign to say in your OP.
      Re; the point. I thought this might cool down some of the misplaced passion about valuing the destructive behavior of the elephants over the well being of people over there. As pointed out in the article, the elephants destroying the food does result in people dying from starvation.

      When people start making judgements about anything only hearing one side of the story, I'm not at all sure they are (good) business people. And that video showing only one side of the story apparently going viral is IMO a shining example.

      As far as a marketing conspiracy, I find it humorous (in a sick way) to think that this might have all been planned out ahead of time. What do all the people who jumped on the "this is bad" bandwagon think now?

      Marvin
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      • Profile picture of the author MerlynSanchez
        Originally Posted by Marvin Johnston View Post

        Re; the point. I thought this might cool down some of the misplaced passion about valuing the destructive behavior of the elephants over the well being of people over there. As pointed out in the article, the elephants destroying the food does result in people dying from starvation.

        When people start making judgements about anything only hearing one side of the story, I'm not at all sure they are (good) business people. And that video showing only one side of the story apparently going viral is IMO a shining example.

        As far as a marketing conspiracy, I find it humorous (in a sick way) to think that this might have all been planned out ahead of time. What do all the people who jumped on the "this is bad" bandwagon think now?

        Marvin
        Doesn't change my opinion at all.

        The big "this is better than sex" grin on his face as he's photographed with the dead elephant says it all.

        He enjoys killing elephants.

        I'd actually respect him more if he came out and admitted he enjoys killing elephants instead of justifying it like he's some kind of humanitarian.
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        • Profile picture of the author Marvin Johnston
          Originally Posted by MerlynSanchez View Post

          Doesn't change my opinion at all.

          The big "this is better than sex" grin on his face as he's photographed with the dead elephant says it all.

          He enjoys killing elephants.
          You obviously didn't read the article, or chose to ignore what was said .

          FWIW, I have no strong opinions one way or another about GoDaddy except that I wouldn't host an IM site there ... too many horror stories. And this is purely a business decision.

          Marvin
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  • Profile picture of the author Alex Frei
    Thanks for the article. Now is more or less realistic.
    There's no living CEO of a big company stupid enough to murder an animal for fun and boast about it.
    "Look I killed a kitten with my big caliber sniper rifle! Wow, I'm cool. I should post it to YouTube. Let the world know." just doesn't make any sense.

    I wouldn't make a video of it. Even if I did, I'd leave it in a wall safe with a password on the file.
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  • Profile picture of the author seobro
    At first I was like this is an april fools joke in poor taste - very poor. Then it dawns on me that this is a real movie. A cold chill crawls up my spine. This is a monster, not even a person.

    He is no doubt one of those execs. The kind that fire people for fun with all their DOWN sizing and OUT sourcing. Always cutting workers pay. Then he turns around and gives himself another salary increase.
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    • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
      Banned
      Originally Posted by seobro View Post

      At first I was like this is an april fools joke in poor taste - very poor. Then it dawns on me that this is a real movie. A cold chill crawls up my spine. This is a monster, not even a person.

      He is no doubt one of those execs. The kind that fire people for fun with all their DOWN sizing and OUT sourcing. Always cutting workers pay. Then he turns around and gives himself another salary increase.
      lol ... this post just sent a cold chill up my spine. I reckon you're one of them veggie-tarians who think that it's cool to let people starve because of ruined crops rather than kill and eat a problem elephant.
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      • Profile picture of the author jkennedy
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        Originally Posted by sbucciarel View Post

        lol ... this post just sent a cold chill up my spine. I reckon you're one of them veggie-tarians who think that it's cool to let people starve because of ruined crops rather than kill and eat a problem elephant.
        It's not the killing the elephant and feeding hundreds of hungry villagers. I would applaud his efforts if he did this quietly out of a true desire to help people. The problem is that this dimwhit shot a video of it and had the villagers wear GoDaddy hats as if to say "this is what our company is all about." You want to feed hungry people and help out some farmers...great, no problem. But don't plaster your company's name all over the place as the animal is torn to shreds and take big happy go lucky pictures that scream "look at this elephant I shot, I have a tiny peenus!" and then make it viral by posting it all on YouTube.

        What an idi0t.
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        • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
          Banned
          Originally Posted by jkennedy View Post

          It's not the killing the elephant and feeding hundreds of hungry villagers. I would applaud his efforts if he did this quietly out of a true desire to help people. The problem is that this dimwhit shot a video of it and had the villagers wear GoDaddy hats as if to say "this is what our company is all about." You want to feed hungry people and help out some farmers...great, no problem. But don't plaster your company's name all over the place as the animal is torn to shreds and take big happy go lucky pictures that scream "look at this elephant I shot, I have a tiny peenus!" and then make it viral by posting it all on YouTube.

          What an idi0t.
          I agree with that. I think he was pretty stupid to release the video at all. Not very smart move for a man who is supposed to know how the Internet works. But he's being criticized for more than that bit of stupidity ... he's being criticized by all the peta types for being a hunter. World is full of hunters who put meat on the tables to feed people and the fact that they enjoy hunting does not diminish the fact that they feed people.
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          • Profile picture of the author jkennedy
            Banned
            Originally Posted by sbucciarel View Post

            I agree with that. I think he was pretty stupid to release the video at all. Not very smart move for a man who is supposed to know how the Internet works. But he's being criticized for more than that bit of stupidity ... he's being criticized by all the peta types for being a hunter. World is full of hunters who put meat on the tables to feed people and the fact that they enjoy hunting does not diminish the fact that they feed people.
            I personally feel it's wrong to hunt purely for sport, but there is definitely nothing wrong with hunting to put food on the table. What this guy did, whether he helped them out or not, was wrong. The locals could've done it themselves honestly. He just wanted to shoot an elephant and show the world how tiny his peenus is.
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            • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
              Banned
              Originally Posted by jkennedy View Post

              I personally feel it's wrong to hunt purely for sport, but there is definitely nothing wrong with hunting to put food on the table. What this guy did, whether he helped them out or not, was wrong. The locals could've done it themselves honestly. He just wanted to shoot an elephant and show the world how tiny his peenus is.
              The locals can not do it themselves. The government issues a certain amount of licenses for elephants and charges a huge amount for them. It is one way that they generate income.

              The locals also do not own "elephant guns". They are very poor people who would probably be fortunate to have a stick to hit an elephant with.

              As for building fences ... going to have to be some pretty huge fences around all villages to keep out bull elephants weighing tons who want a tasty little snack.

              Personally, I would never kill an elephant if I were a hunter. However ill advised Parsons video and his stupid hats on the villagers was and is, at least some very hungry people ate the animal. It would be an outrage to me if it were a trophy kill.
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      • Profile picture of the author Marvin Johnston
        Originally Posted by sbucciarel View Post

        lol ... this post just sent a cold chill up my spine. I reckon you're one of them veggie-tarians who think that it's cool to let people starve because of ruined crops rather than kill and eat a problem elephant.
        I think it is more a matter of forum (pun intended) over substance. The fact that people can now gather crops and hopefully avoid starving to death doesn't seem to matter as much as the drama surrounding how it was done.

        Marvin

        PS - It would probably be a good idea if the mods would move these discussions to the off-topic forum. Any relationship to marketing appears to be coincidental .
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  • Profile picture of the author Matt Ward
    Yet another reason (as though I needed another) to avoid GoDaddy like the black plague.
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  • Profile picture of the author kindsvater
    It doesn't matter if the village has an "elephant problem". It was a stupid marketing stunt done with the intent of promoting the service.

    How many domains are sold to those villagers?

    How many domains are sold to people repulsed by what they saw?
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  • Profile picture of the author DrewClement
    UGH..

    Getting pretty tired of the righteous few out there claiming that killing the elephant was for the best,the elephant trampling crops was causing people starve...why oh why do people value elephants over humans etc etc.

    The point is...Parsons is a moron if he truly feels sneaking through the bushes and firing at one elephant in the middle of the night is going to ensure they never come back.

    Hey Mr. MoneyBags Parsons...Ive got a "thinking outside of the box" idea.

    Use your oodles of money to build a damn fence.

    Hmmm...Problems solved?
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    • Profile picture of the author Michael Oksa
      Originally Posted by DrewClement View Post

      UGH..

      Getting pretty tired of the righteous few out there claiming that killing the elephant was for the best,the elephant trampling crops was causing people starve...why oh why do people value elephants over humans etc etc.

      The point is...Parsons is a moron if he truly feels sneaking through the bushes and firing at one elephant in the middle of the night is going to ensure they never come back.

      Hey Mr. MoneyBags Parsons...Ive got a "thinking outside of the box" idea.

      Use your oodles of money to build a damn fence.

      Hmmm...Problems solved?
      Now that's funny. I think you need to look up the definition of "righteous", because it's coming from the other side.

      However, don't take my comments to mean I support what Parsons did. I see the different sides to the controversy and think there are strong and weak points being made all around.

      I do like the idea of building a fence. May be the first fully reasonable thing I've seen said yet.

      All the best,
      Michael
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  • Profile picture of the author Thomas Wilkinson
    Bob Parsons gave a speech a couple of years ago here in Tampa. I've never had any trouble with elephants since.
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  • Profile picture of the author VegasGreg
    I am going to go to Mcdonalds now and have a cheeseburger with bacon and some chicken nuggets for lunch.

    I know the cow, pig and chicken used for my meal didn't try to destroy a village's food, but were just hanging out at the farm.

    I will enjoy my meal and come back to read more of this thread.

    I would video tape myself eating the meal, but don't want to offend anyone.

    All the smiling/happy people lovin' there food on the TV commercial should be ashamed of themselves.
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    • Profile picture of the author BloggingPro
      Originally Posted by VegasGreg View Post

      I am going to go to Mcdonalds now and have a cheeseburger with bacon and some chicken nuggets for lunch.

      I know the cow, pig and chicken used for my meal didn't try to destroy a village's food, but were just hanging out at the farm.

      I will enjoy my meal and come back to read more of this thread.

      I would video tape myself eating the meal, but don't want to offend anyone.

      All the smiling/happy people lovin' there food on the TV commercial should be ashamed of themselves.
      And thats the kind of post I needed to get me through the rest of my Friday!
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  • Profile picture of the author Richard Green
    I think it's strange how we hold one animal (an elephant) in such high regard and are outraged by it's death, yet millions of animals are slaughtered everyday for far more unnecessary reasons than destroying crops.

    Maybe this 1 Elephant will help the cause of animal rights because it was killed by an "important" person, but it pales in comparison to the elephants that are killed needlessly everyday for their tusks.
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    • Profile picture of the author Marvin Johnston
      Originally Posted by Richard Green View Post

      I think it's strange how we hold one animal (an elephant) in such high regard and are outraged by it's death, yet millions of animals are slaughtered everyday for far more unnecessary reasons than destroying crops.

      Maybe this 1 Elephant will help the cause of animal rights because it was killed by an "important" person, but it pales in comparison to the elephants that are killed needlessly everyday for their tusks.
      How much of your version is determined by listening to one-sided marketing presentations?

      And what is the other side of that story?

      And what is the difference between that and the misleading sales copy/headlines/etc that is way too common in todays IM space?

      Marvin
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      • Profile picture of the author Dan C. Rinnert
        Question: How many of those that are shocked and appalled by the killing of a destructive elephant wouldn't think twice about setting out lethal mouse traps if they saw a mouse in their home?
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