Groupon Pulls Controversial Super Bowl Ads
What your take on this …..?
Groupon announced on Thursday that it is pulling its controversial Super Bowl commercials from the air.In a blog post, Groupon CEO Andrew Mason apologized for the ads, which many said were offensive–especially the one that aired during the Super Bowl, which featured actor Timothy Hutton talking about the plight of the Tibetan people before unexpectedly shifting gears and boasting that he could still save money on Tibetan restaurants, thanks to Groupon.”Our ads offended a lot of people,” Mason wrote. “Tuesday I posted an explanation, but as many of you have pointed out, if an ad requires an explanation, that means it didnt work.”In the explanation, Mason defended the ads, saying they were actually meant to bring awareness and raise money for the various issues they mentioned other spots talked about the Brazilian rainforest and whales. But that stance clearly was not enough, causing Mason to go further.”We hate that we offended people, and were very sorry that we did – its the last thing we wanted,” Mason wrote on Thursday. “Weve listened to your feedback, and since we dont see the point in continuing to anger people, were pulling the ads…we thought we were poking fun at ourselves, but clearly the execution was off and the joke didnt come through. I personally take responsibility; although we worked with a professional ad agency, in the end, it was my decision to run the ads.”