Ask HN: Anyone Else Sick at the Groupon Commercials?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2187563

by maukdaddy • 15 years ago

8 10 15 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Completely tasteless. If I were a VC I'd be FURIOUS right now!

Skywing• 15 years ago

Maybe I'm wrong here, but no - I take the commercials for what they are - they're super bowl commercials. They're also doing exactly what Groupon wanted. People are now discussing them because they were slightly controversial. I also feel like they got the point across very well. When it's all said and done, I'm willing to bet these will have been a success for Groupon.

I mean, really, who did these anger? I think the media only writes articles saying that these angered people to make people think others are angry. But really, who is angry? It's a commercial.

maukdaddy2• 15 years ago

Horse shit. Everyone skewered Kenneth Cole earlier this week and Groupon just did something even worse. They fucked up big time.

Edit: Making fun of genocide and deforestation is completely out of line. CEO should have known better, ad agency should have known better, advisors should have known better, VCs should have known better, the list goes on and on.

flipside• 15 years ago

You do know that Groupon is matching donations to all 3 causes up to $100,000 right?

If it's a choice between ignoring and acknowledging/raising money/pissing people off, at least Groupon is doing something.

Not offending people is a surprisingly ineffective policy for change, believe it or not.

jcr3• 15 years ago

Sure, one could take offense at Groupon leveraging the situation in Tibet for financial gain, but there is a better way to think about it.

My first thought when seeing the ad was, "This will be banned in China."

My second thought when seeing the ad was, "That was an extremely clever way of raising (general public) awareness about Tibet on a massive scale while still advertising their service.

The fact some people are angry, and talking about it, is actually a good thing for Tibet. --It's far better than the usual silence.

maukdaddy2• 15 years ago

No it isn't. It's a ploy to drive more sales, with an obligatory "charity" drive to offset the tastelessness of the entire campaign. Just because Groupon is a tech darling doesn't give them a free pass.

jcr3• 15 years ago

Try to think about it this way; the fact you (and many others) are upset and talking about it results in a massive headache for the keepers of the Great Firewall of China. If someone doesn't know about the problems in Tibet, and they wonder what all the fuss is about, they might actually learn something about the situation.

It might be in poor taste and enable financial gain, but it still does some good... --Then again, having HN blocked in China would be an unfortunate side effect.

anigbrowl• 15 years ago

Yes indeed. I was really offended, and my in-laws (who are Asian) were first astonished and then furious. We shop a lot online, and have been fairly regular Groupon customers (on higher value items), but not any more.

I'm amazed they would degrade their brand that way. Marketing director should be fired immediately, They need to spend way more on charitable donations now than the $3m they spent to insult a variety of popular causes and the people who support them.

pekinb• 15 years ago

I think you guys need to start exercising or something

Dramatize• 15 years ago

No, I must express my interweb rage.

Ask HN: Anyone Else Sick at the Groupon Commercials?

Related Stories