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11 Feb 2011 10:05

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Biz: Groupon listens to angry people, takes controversial ads off air

  • Five days have passed since the Super Bowl, and one thing is clear – our ads offended a lot of people. Tuesday I posted an explanation, but as many of you have pointed out, if an ad requires an explanation, that means it didn’t work.
  • Groupon CEO Andrew Mason • Being forced to back down on those cause-mocking Super Bowl ads which seem to have pissed off just about everybody. Within the next day or so, they’re going off the air, kids. ” We thought we were poking fun at ourselves,” he continued. but clearly the execution was off and the joke didn’t come through.” Mason says he personally takes blame for approving the ads. (thanks abcworldnews) source

08 Feb 2011 10:08

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Biz, Culture: Groupon CEO Andrew Mason tries to explain awful ad campaign

  • Not a single person watched our ad and concluded that it’s cool to kill whales. In fact – and this is part of the reason we ran them – they have the opposite effect.
  • Groupon CEO Andrew Mason • Attempting to explain that his company’s controversial Super Bowl ads were in fact – IN FACT – meant to be respectful to other cultures and environmental causes. “The last thing we wanted was to offend our customers – it’s bad business and it’s not where our hearts are,” Mason concluded. Too bad nobody took the ads that way. Commenters on the blog post are savaging him and the company for trying to be a little too clever with its commercial approach without explaining its reasoning. They could’ve saved themselves a lot of trouble had they actually put a domain name on the ad somewhere. source

06 Feb 2011 21:21

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Culture: Groupon wins award for worst ad campaign of the night

  • In case you haven’t seen this hot mess, here you go. Groupon just exploited the Tibetian people to sell its wares, an advertising strategy not seen since, well, ever. While Groupon does have a point, you have to get all the way to this site to find it. The odds that people will reach this site and see the joke: Zilch. Way to go, Groupon. source

25 May 2010 10:53

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World: Madagascar’s shaky government directly affecting the environment

  • cause In March 2009, 16-year-old (not really) Andry Rajoelina took over the island’s shaky, weakened government in a coup.
  • reaction Since then, the country’s huge, diverse rainforests have been cut down en masse for sake of huge profits. source
  • » Cha-ching!: The government has been reportedly turning a blind eye to the massive damage to the country’s rainforest because they’re reportedly taking in some of the ill-gotten profits. How much money are we talking? $167 million or more. For a nation like Madagascar, that’s huge.