Groupon Pulling Their Controversial Super Bowl Ads

According to a blog posted by Groupon CEO Andrew Mason, the company is pulling all three of their controversial 2011 Super Bowl ads, 'Tibet', 'Whales' and 'Rainforest'.  The Christopher Guest directed spots spawned a lot of outrage by some viewers who felt the ads were in bad taste. In the end the advertising world, unlike other creative media forms,  often have to bow down to the easily offended public. The great thing about the internet though is that the satirical ads will live on, where people can make their own choice to view them or not.  So enjoy or be offended.

Mason had to make this statement on the Groupon blog:

"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".

"We hate that we offended people, and we're very sorry that we did – it's the last thing we wanted. We've listened to your feedback, and since we don't see the point in continuing to anger people, we're pulling the ads".