Boycott Groupon?

You'll see, Groupon keeps pissing people off with their marketing so people have started boycotting Groupon. 


As I wrote yesterday, it looks like Groupon screwed up again and people are mightily pissed off about them making fun of serious environmental issues and human oppression.


Funny that, eh? People get angry when you make fun of rape, pillage, torture or the end of the world.


Even more than the ad that I didn't like where Groupon makes fun of Amazon rain forest deforestation, it seems those clowns actually ran an ad that made light of China's oppression of the people of Tibet. The ad featured Timothy Hutton and he said, "The people of Tibet are in trouble. But they still whip up an amazing fish curry!" 


It then went on to promote Groupon. 


Maybe the curry is tasty. This ad campaign isn't. What were they thinking?

Ha! Ha! Ha! Yeah. Hilarious right? Young girls raped and old men and women getting whipped and beaten by jack-booted Chinese security forces in Tibet! Hilarious.... I can't stop laughing! Yeah, and did you hear the screamer about genocide, rape and murder in Palestine too? The people at Groupon must be laughing their ass off at that one! Look for that to be their next ad campaign.


What a bunch of fools these Groupon people must be. I always compare them to Amway, but, in this case, they are much worse. At least the Amway folks were polite... Sort of.


The CEO of Groupon, Andrew Mason, must really be a bozo. I imagine that he is a typical rich-kid that has no idea of how the world actually works and has never really had a job. When you read about Groupon's consistent mess ups and his idiotic apologies, you wonder what planet this guy is living on.


Dear readers can do as they please, but I am going to boycott Groupon and never use their service.... My official boycott starts today.


I've written before that Groupon's business model is unsustainable, Mish Shedlock pointed out that he thinks that Groupon will regret not taking $4 billion (USD) from Google, and, judging from the negative press that's come out these last few days (again) I predict Groupon is about to get "pooped-on" by a lot of people.


I imagine that, in the worst case, if they can, the people who work with Groupon CEO Andrew Mason in upper management must be planning a Coup De Etat against that guy. He has no humility and he has no common sense. The guy's video's reek of insincerity. His handling of these screw ups must be really making people worry about where his head is at. I know I'd be thinking, "How do we get rid of this clown?"


He's lucky that Groupon is not a publicly traded company. If they were, they would have given him the boot by now.


But, I'll bet they can't show him the door and this will really hurt Groupon. Google would never offer them $4 billion USD today. They messed up big time. Funny that... Groupon and "messed up big time" are becoming synonymous.


Andrew, your companies "parody" videos are not funny nor are they endearing to the people.


The Wall Street Journal writes in "Is Groupon the real Super Bowl loser?": 


The ads triggered so much criticism that Groupon's founder, Andrew Mason, went online not to apologize for them but to explain them. He said the Super Bowl commercials that are truly offensive are ones built around "the crass objectification of women." Groupon's ads didn't do that.


Earth to Andy, earth to Andy. Hello? "Objectification of women? You are talking about ads for the Superbowl that Joe Sixpack is watching.... You know, a program that features a war of the gridiron and girls in mini skirts screaming "Go Team!" or "Drink Busweiser!" You know, T & A is what 90% of the viewers (who just so happen to be guys) want to see.


Doh!


Or, Andy, have you never watched the Superbowl like regular American Joe Sixpack has?... (Actually, judging from how you fouled this one up too, it wouldn't surprise me if you said that you never have).

At least Homer is cute & funny... And loved by the people.

Groupon CEO Andrew Mason continually insists upon showing his lack of class, humility and understanding by making these foolish "apology" videos. In fact, this time, for these offensive Super Bowl videos, he didn't apologize. He is actually so daft that he went on TV to explain them.


Come on, Andy, how dumb can you be? Everyone knows a joke isn't funny if it has to be explained. 


Groupon is not funny. Nor is it an endearing brand. Not a good combination for success. 


Boycott Groupon? It's on!  


UPDATE:


There is a Facebook "Boycott Groupon" group that just started. Join here.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Boycott-Groupon/169470236433287?v=wall

UPDATE TWO:


Interestingly, after I wrote this blog I Google searched, "Boycott Groupon." I found 290,000 results. Seems there are many people who think like me. Nice work, Andy.


I thought this boycott pretty much summed it all up.   


Thanks to Mark Davis in Florida!


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Groupon Does Something Stupid Again... What Did I Tell You?

What did I tell you? I wrote on January 24, 2010 that we wouldn't have to wait long for the  management of Groupon to do something stupid again and, not even three weeks later, they have.


The management of Groupon must be geeks who are geniuses at the Internet but not have any common sense when dealing with people in the real world. They've gone and messed up again. Less than one month after I predicted that they would screw up soon!


There's something funny (and I don't mean humorous) about Groupon management.


Now it seems that they managed to blow millions on Superbowl ads that failed to get the message across and, in fact, made a lot of people angry.


NY Times reports:


Groupon may not be making its initial public offering yet — but it has made its mark on millions watching the Super Bowl, anyway. 
What is not clear yet is whether the start-up has burned through a lot of good will.


The company bought its first television ads for the big game, starting before kickoff, with one theme: “Save the Money.” All the commercials are premised on saving something endangered — and a few bucks to boot.


There’s Cuba Gooding Jr. lamenting the fate of whales, while touting a 43 percent discount on a whale-watching boat ride. And there’s Elizabeth Hurley, intoning about the rapid deforestation of the Brazilian rain forest … followed by a note that “not all deforestation is bad,” like a 50 percent discount on a Brazilian wax in New York City. 


Actually, as a person who does cares about the environment, I can say that this ad with Elizabeth Hurley pissed me off:





OK, maybe I can understand the management of Groupon being ignorant and callous about Japanese sensitivities, but being ignorant of American Liberal tendencies? Making fun a a serious environmental problem? 


Laughable. Well, it would be laughable if it were a joke. But Groupon is about as much a joke as Amway was... So laugh if you will.


Please don't come back to me saying that "Groupon matches your sale with an investment to a charity." For one, I am not impressed with a 50% off sale (when they are just going to pass that cost off to their clients anyway). And I am not impressed by most of these dodgy charities.


(For a charity that I approve of see Rock Challenge Japan)


If Groupon were really sincere in trying to create goodwill then they'd have just made a commercial saying that they would match donations or make a commercial that asked you to help donate to the cause. 


How this company got to be such a big buzz is beyond me. I mean, who wants to keep getting bombarded with ads to buy crap that no one needs? Why would I want to get a 50% discount on a $4 hamburger that takes me 1.5 hours round-trip to get to?


In my opinion, the Groupon business model is non-sustainable and, if they keep making gaffes like this, they won't last 10 years. 


I'm getting to hate Groupon.


This old lady hates it too! Read this. It's pretty funny. From the Angry Blogger.

This 102 year old grandmother can’t take GroupOn’s constant “massage” coupons or other useless crap it offers. The amazement started when she heard about this ‘coupon’ site. She’s notorious for collecting and saving hundreds of dollars using coupons. Then her grandson decided to bring her up to speed for her coupons with an iPad. She was thrilled to learn how to get coupons easily daily, until the app opened up. As she clinked her scissors in one hand she realized she just needed to save her fifty cents on toilet paper, another $1 on mascara, and where the hell were her buy one get one free bread offers? Why did she keep getting offers like $89 for a Boudoir Photography Session at Red1 Studios ($450 Value)? Her weak heart cried out, “I’m 102 sonny, no one wants to see me in this sexy outfit I have on.” Another coupon comes into her email, $20 for $40 Worth of Asian Cuisine at Mr. Yum. She snickers, they give me gas. But if I had a coupon for Zantac I’d probably eat there.

So GroupOn, if you are going to keep sending crap out to grandma like $15 for One Hour of Billiards and One Pitcher of Beer or Soda at Doral Billiards & Sports Bar ($32 Value) make sure it comes with delivery service for people that are 102 years old!

Read more at The Angry Blogger. 


Comments:? Comments should be succinct, constructive and relevant to the story. We encourage engaging, diverse and meaningful commentary. Comments that include personal attacks, racial, religious, or ethnic slurs are not permitted. We will remove any inappropriate comments.