After huge outcry on social media and in old media, Groupon is ending a campaign that made its debut on Super Bowl Sunday. This is not the first time Super Bowl ad has been pulled, Mars pulled a Snickers as in 2007 because it was deemed homophobic by large part of the public and critics..
Groupon ran one commercial during Super Bowl XLV on Fox, featuring the actor Timothy Hutton, as well as one spot before the game and one after; those featured Cuba Gooding Jr. and Elizabeth Hurley. The stars in each spot started talking about a cause, then veered off to describe how they were saving money by using Groupon’s discount coupons.
The campaign represented Groupon’s first national mainstream advertising.
“We hate that we offended people, and we’re very sorry that we did,” Andrew Mason, chief executive of Groupon, wrote in a post on Thursday on the corporate blog. “It’s the last thing we wanted.”
All three spots, which carried the theme “Save the money,” were intended to spoof celebrity do-gooders but instead was found to be a punch in the gut by many people who support those causes.
