Groupon is a company which has special deals every day with businesses so that if a set number of people buy the product or service they all get a discount. You can learn more about it in this video. During this past Superbowl, Groupon aired a very controversial ad that cost 3 million dollars: Save the Money - Tibet:
This ad starts out by showing scenery in Tibet, saying that the country is in trouble. Then it shifts to a man in a restaurant saying that they make good food and that he got a discount because he and a whole lot of other people all bought on Groupon.com.
Not only did Groupon air this ad, but the company also aired two other controversial ads: one which makes fun of saving whales and the devastation of the Brazil rainforest. But the CEO of Groupon, Andrew Mason, explained to The Wall Street Journal that the ads were only intended to be a spoof and that, in regards to the Tibetans, that the company takes the suffering of these people seriously and intends to raise money for them. More on this controversy can be read here on ABC News.com
After watching the advertisement, reading this post and the linked article, do you think that Groupon is unethical in their advertisement? Are they taking comedic advertisement too far?
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