Ask HN: Groupon's Tibet Ad, Bad Taste | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Groupon's Tibet Ad, Bad Taste

9 pointseuroclydon9 comments

Is it just me, or did it seem like Goupon was making fun of Tibet in their Super Bowl ad?

These ads seem to have been engineered from the start to stir up controversy, which in turn will generate more mentions of Groupon in the news cycle and on the web. While I can appreciate the perspective that any press is good press, marginalizing these very real issues in the world to hock your product is just wrong and soulless. They could have easily invented hilarious fictitious issues and achieved a far less offensive message.

I haven't seen this ad but "wrong and soulless" seems a bit of a stretch unless they are causing actual harm, which I doubt.

Taboo topics just generally bother me as a slippery-slope type situation; I mean, there is this confusion between talking about a thing (and thus evoking an emotional memory about said thing) and actually doing a thing.

Calls for self censorship around taboo topics, especially with regard to humor seem to completely ignore that. In reality it's either funny or it's not. Any claims that "it's wrong" to laugh at such and such a joke are almost certainly without any logical/rational basis.

When I make a dead baby joke (which I never do) I am not saying "dead babies are awesome."

I don't mean to go off.. it's just a pet peeve of mine. For the record, I haven't liked Groupon since I read that sob story about the coffee shop that lost their ass with them.

I think they were making fun of advertising actually. I didn't find it in poor taste... they were highlighting their culture and that you can great deals on dinner @groupon. cool stuff.

Most people tweeting on the topic don't agree with you. Perception is reality in this case, despite their intentions.

A mob mind is rarely well-informed.

Yep ... The situation in Tibet is a bit too serious to be trivialized by a good deal on dinner.

Any press is good press. If people didn't know what Groupon was before this, they will soon. All they'll have to do is issue a big apology like they did in Japan, and people will move on to something else to pseudo-care about (if they really cared they'd do more than bitch and moan about a commercial).

At least there's this: http://savethemoney.groupon.com/

Would've been great if the commercial had highlighted it.

I think the Pepsi Max commercials are a bit tacky too.

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