Well, Bar Refaeli gets to keep her dress on in Go Daddy's "Perfect Match" ad, set to air during Super Bowl XLVII -- but she has to spend a full eight seconds making out with a stereotypical dweeb "Walter" (Jesse Heiman).
And it's not fun to watch, not because Heiman -- a renowned Hollywood background actor who's appeared in 140-odd movies and television shows -- is a revolting nerd, but because it's an extreme close-up of a PG-13 smooch, complete with smacking sounds. (Heiman says it took 65 takes. Good one, buddy.) After Go Daddy spokes-driver Danica Patrick introduces the pair, they go to town on a lip-lock to promote the idea behind the ad -- that "when sexy meets smart, your small business scores." Geddit? "Scores"?
Refaeli appeared on NBC's "Today" show this morning to talk about the ad, and said Heiman is "a very good kisser," so maybe she's responsible for the dozens of takes they needed. And apparently, the commercial's premise is, in a way, a dream realized for the model. "I have a very strange dream that all my friends know about where I go to [a] club, look around, choose the guy most unlikely to be kissed, and kiss him in front of everyone, and make give something to remember for the rest of the week." Just the week? We think she's underestimating her powers just a tad here.
"Perfect Match" is actually relatively tame material for Go Daddy, an internet registration business that first got ad eyeballs (and infamy) in 2005 when it aired an ad riffing on Janet Jackson's notorious "wardrobe malfunction" from the year before. It's known for airing racy -- or just tacky -- ads during the Super Bowl. 2013's offerings so far aren't the cheesecake viewers may have gotten used to, but the make-out sesh in "Perfect Match" doesn't leave much to the imagination, even if you close your eyes.
Twitter didn't seem to mind:
Gotta get paid… RT @cjzero: Bar Refaeli doing a Go Daddy commercial is like LeBron hooping at the Y...
— Lucas Maatman (@lucasmaatman) February 1, 2013
Refaeli doesn't mind the brand's reputation for raciness, either; she told "Today" she's fine with the version of the ad that shows her and Heiman's tongues interwining, a cut deemed too explicit by CBS. "When we do something like that filled with a lot of humor, and we are joking about ourselves, I'd rather we go all the way." Refaeli, a model and "Sports Illustrated" swimsuit-issue star who dated Leonardo DiCaprio for quite some time, is currently single. No word on Heiman's relationship status, but we'll marry him ourselves if he'll promise to turn down the dang lip mics the next time.
What'd you think of "Perfect Match" -- funny? Icky? Discriminatory towards "indoorsy kids"? Let us know in the comments.
The San Francisco 49ers will take on the Baltimore Ravens in Super Bowl XLVII, which airs Sunday, 2/3 at 6:30 PM on CBS.
