Turns Out Pulled Groupon Super Bowl Ads are Good for Business and Charities Alike

The Groupon Super Bowl controversy of 2011 is a great example of an ad campaign that defies political correctness and demonstrates the actual intelligence of consumers thought processes. It seems that even after Groupon Super Bowl XLV's controversial commercials were pulled, the internet company's subscriber-ship increased not decreased. In addition, the charitable organizations that were connected with the ad campaign such as Greenpeace and The Tibet Fund called the ad campaign and partnership a financial success with that actually brought there issues and concerns to the forefront. The whole fiasco could have been avoided however if Groupon had actually mentioned the charitable arm of the campaign by featuring their website SaveTheMoney.org in the actual spots themselves. Nonetheless, I hope advertising agencies and companies alike learn from this incident and do not bow down to political correctness and continue to push the envelope of advertising creativity.

In lieu of this I thought it would be interesting to post Groupons alternate spot that was rejected for their inaugural Super Bowl ad campaign for the now infamous commercials. Clearly not as thought provoking or controversial, but I'm sure it still would have outraged some recovering addict advocate groups.

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".

Groupons First Ever Super Bowl Ad Campaign Doesn't Disappoint

With their first ever Super Bowl Ad submission, Groupon's inaugural ad campaign was much anticipated and it didn't disappoint. The ads titled 'Tibet', 'Whales' and 'Rainforest', seemingly start off as a charitable advert with actors like Timothy Hutton, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Elizabeth Hurley really selling the gag. I'm sure some will say the Groupon commercial takes advantage of the very real plight of the Tibetan people, whales and the rainforest, nonetheless the spots were bold and clever, and in fact Groupon are really donating to related charitable organizations that they poked fun at.