The 2013 Super Bowl gave people plenty to talk about other than football: Beyoncé, a blackout and, for the first time, the Jewish state.Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli featured in one of the most talked-about commercials of the event, an advertisement for Internet domain hosting company GoDaddy.The 30-second clip entitled “Perfect Match” featured Refaeli in an excruciatingly loud make-out session with a plump computer nerd, as an announcer explained that the company was a perfect combination of sexy and smart.GoDaddy capitalized on the audacious ad by releasing a teaser ad ahead of time and a longer, uncensored, “edgier” version of the ad (which it says CBS rejected) on their website. The company has frequently dangled the promise of explicit advertisements to draw potential customers to their website, courting controversy and accusations of inappropriateness to draw audiences.“Inappropriate? Hearing that word, I absolutely knew we were in for a record Super Bowl ad campaign,” said GoDaddy’s executive chairman and founder Bob Parson.“And by the way, I think both of our ads were the funniest in the game, by far.”According to GoDaddy, the ads delivered more new customers and overall sales than any other Super Bowl campaign in the company’s history.Speaking to Israeli media, Refaeli simply remarked that fellow actor Jesse Heiman was an excellent kisser.Israel’s reach into the advertising world did not stop with Refaeli, however.SodaStream, an Israeli company that has been targeted by boycott groups for manufacturing its beverage carbonating machines in the West Bank, made history for being the first Israeli company to buy a Super Bowl ad. The 30-second spot featured warehouses full of exploding 2-liter soda bottles, emphasizing the environmental benefits of consumers make their own bubbly water at home.SodaStream CEO Daniel Birnbaum rejected criticism lobbed at the company, telling media that the company doesn’t “strengthen or support the occupation.”“What we’re doing is taking a facility in the occupied territory and giving Palestinians a career and economic benefits.I’ve got to laugh when they think we’re on the wrong side of this. We’re part of the solution. We build bridges, not walls,” he said.Though it did not manage to make quite the same wave as the commercial from GoDaddy, SodaStream’s first ad submission was also banned. In the original, the exploding soda bottles were explicitly labeled as Coca-Cola and Pepsi. CBS did not want to air commercials trashing other companies that shelled out millions for SuperBowl ads.
