Is this the worst branding ever? GoDaddy boss filmed shooting elephant before hungry villagers wearing company logo hack into the carcass

Daily Mail, by DAILY MAIL REPORTER, 31st March 2011

This is the shocking video of GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons shooting an elephant in Zimbabwe.

In the disturbing holiday movie, internet entrepreneur Mr Parsons is seen shooting a bull elephant before having his picture taken as he perches on the carcass with a rifle in one hand and a smile on his face.

The video then cuts to the next day as hungry villagers wearing orange GoDaddy hats hack away at the dead elephant while a raucous rock soundtrack plays in the background.

Filmed: Bob Parsons smiles proudly over the corpse of the dead
bull elephant

Poor taste: Villagers are seen the next day hacking into the corpse
wearing the company logo

The shooting happened on March 8, and according to the video was meant as a gesture to help farmers who were having their crops destroyed by the marauding elephants.

As tense music plays in the background, scrolling text reads: 'For the second year in a row I spent ten days hunting problem elephant in Zimbabwe.

'Of everything I do this is the most rewarding.'

At first the team demonstrate the damage caused by the elephants.

After a few minutes the scree goes black, as the 'team' wait for the bull elephants to return to the crops.

A gun is then fired, which the film attributes to Mr Parsons.

Justified: Mr parsons said he shot the elephant because it was
eating the villagers crops

Captured: The elephant was shot by Mr parsons at night

The next day villagers are captured hacking into the carcass and carrying off the meat.

Several are wearing orange GoDaddy baseball caps.

The video has sparked angry exchanges between Mr Parsons and website change.org.

Petitioners on the site have rubbished Mr Parson's suggestion that non-lethal alternatives could be used to fend off destructive elephants such as beehives on poles or chili-infused string fences.

In response, Mr Parsons wrote on his blog that the petitioners: 'have no idea what they're talking about'. He wrote: 'The people there [Zimbabwe] have very little.

'Many die each year from starvation and one of the problems they have is the elephants, of which there are thousands and thousands, that trash many of their fields, destroying the crops.

'Should the folks at Change.org go to Zimbabwe with their bee hives and chili pepper lines, my guess is they'll return with a tusk in their ass and some very pissed off villages and farmers in their wake.'

WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT

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