Erstwhile GoDaddy pitchgal Amanda Beard and I have a storied past. No, we've never met, and I've never been much of a swimmer so I barely paid attention to her Olympic escapades. But what I am is someone who writes a lot about the intersection of nakedness and money, so she and I have become well-acquainted. Her appearance in Playboy proved something; perhaps, "the only way for women athletes to really make money is by exploiting themselves." Her appearance in GoDaddy commercials proved that there were other ways to exploit ones sexy assets than by posing in Playboy.

It didn't take long, of course, before GoDaddy worked itself into such a lather over its own "sexiness" that the company proved to be a bad place with which to associate oneself, even if one is famous chiefly for shamelessly taking advantage of one's notoriety and possession of few inhibitions. Think it was titillating seeing Amanda threaten to expose herself on network TV? (And then make an unfunny joke about Amanda having seven "of them" on her chest.) Try the titillation of actual breasts, big, augmented-by-miracles-of-modern-medicine ones, as GoDaddy did in this year's Super Bowl ad.



In December 2008, Amanda Beard reached a settlement agreement with GoDaddy, terminating her contract. Under the agreement, the company would stop using her name and image on its web site and in its advertising. Evidently, GoDaddy was pushing the line, as her representatives filed a complaint in Beverly Hils, Calif. Superior Court, saying the web site was violating this settlement agreement. Money line in the very short news item: GoDaddy is exploiting her image.

According to TMZ, a GoDaddy representative says the suit is "a crock." And it's hard to exploit someone who's already done a really great job of exploiting herself. Contract law doesn't allow for poetic justice, however, so I doubt we'll be seeing any more of Amanda's assets associated with GoDaddy.com.

(Instead, you can see her assets for free thanks to PETA.)