So did anyone catch the GoDaddy SuperBowl commercial for Puppets by Gwen?

Pretty neat! This woman basically quit her job to do puppeteering full time. The only thing that bothered me is that in the ad it makes it seem like she is claiming to have built all the puppets she uses in the show, when there are clearly Terry Angus and what looks like some Folkmanis puppets being used as well. Not sure exactly which puppets she has built herself, but it's not all of them.



And another video:

I hope to share that story one day :D

Pretty cool! Being featured in a SuperBowl commercial is a pretty big thing for an independent business owner and the fact it is a puppeteer is really great.

Looks like Andrew found quite a few connections to puppetry with the Superbowl. http://puppetvisionmovie.com/2014/02/puppets-and-superbowl-xlviii/

It would seem the Muppets are making a nice comeback, which gives room for other puppets as well.

...The only thing that bothered me is that in the ad it makes it seem like she is claiming to have built all the puppets she uses in the show, when there are clearly Terry Angus and what looks like some Folkmanis puppets being used as well. Not sure exactly which puppets she has built herself, but it's not all of them.

First, please know I'm not taking any issue with what you said Cathicks. I'm just responding to that comment because a lot of other people people on other sites have been very unkind to this woman unfortunately.

There's been a certain amount of controversy about this ad and I think it's really important to point out a couple of things about it in fairness to the puppeteer appearing in it.

We have no idea where she was or which puppets she was referring to when she says she makes her own puppets. If you watch the video closely, she's not on camera when she says she makes puppets (I believe the actual shot is of a sewing machine). That was either an excerpt from an interview or (more likely) a scripted line they edited some B-roll (cutaway shots) on top of. That may not have even been her own house the ad was filmed in, it could very well be a location that was rented somewhere.

Now, I do think the ad is misleading to an extent, but I'm also pretty sure Gwen didn't edit it or have much control over it. Ad agencies do not spend $4 million buying a Superbowl ad, hire a famous actor like John Turturro to appear in it and then give an unknown person editorial control over it. Gwen is a hired spokesperson for GoDaddy (her website declares this) and I'm sure she has no more control over the editing and content of the ad than any other actor or puppeteer hired to appear in a commercial.

A lot of people in the online puppetry community basically cyber bullied Gwen after the commercial aired, mocking her appearance, her skills and making accusations based on several flawed assumptions because of what sounded a lot like resentment and jealousy. It was very sad. Several people - including some relatively well known puppeteers - were attacking her having Terry Angus' work on screen, until Terry himself came to her defence, explaining that she was a friend and he had given permission for his work to appear on screen. He also very politely, but very firmly took the community to task and expressed how disappointed he was to see people attacking her and making accusations on the internet, which I thought was a very classy thing to do.

I do think it was a poor choice on her part to deliver the line she did knowing that other people's puppets were being filmed for the ad. I wouldn't do that personally, but I would also guess (and this is just speculation now) she probably believed she was making a honest statement and may not have even considered that her line might be used out of context. At the very least, I think it's wise to assume the best until there is some sort of evidence to the contrary.

Oh and I forgot to mention that one of the puppets (the duck that's featured) was apparently built by Russ Walko, who sold it to Gwen via ebay. Apparently she was free and clear to do whatever she wanted with it.

It's very nice to see a much more respectful discussion of this ad here on P&S, which is really what we've all come to expect here.

No worries, Andrew. I'm in the entertainment industry, I know how the editing room process goes, haha!

It's unfortunate that she's become the victim of some cyber bullying, especially from fellow puppeteers. :/ I do think that (whether intentionally or not) she's brought a lot of it on herself by being vague and misleading. Her website also alludes to the notion that she's hand built all of her puppets.

http://puppetsbygwen.com/my-puppets.html

Regardless, the attention that both she and the puppet builders/performers community is getting from the ad is great! There was a lot of puppet presence at this year's Super Bowl. $4mil for 30 seconds... that's a lot of faith and love for puppets!

Pleased you chimed in on this Andrew. Had read some about the bullying on FB and was dismayed to hear about it. It is so easy to judge someone and like you say it is very doubtful she had any control over content. Gwen will always be welcome here if she chooses to join use!

This was so random. I auditioned for this too. The audition was SOO vague. Probably one of the weirdest things I have done. The casting call basically said "we need women puppet makers between the ages for 30 and 45 who have a full time job." So specific. I am actually glad I didn't get cast in this once I saw the final product. While it would be amazing to drop the 9-5 job and make puppets forever, I don't think announcing it during the Super Bowl is the way to go. I wouldn't want to burn bridges like that.

However, it seems like her boss took it well and I hope she can  make her puppets take off. It's a great opportunity.