One spot that I didn’t address in my Super Bowl Ad Report Card has been generating a lot of controversy today. The ad is for Groupon, the online coupon purveyor that recently turned down a $6 billion dollar offer from Google. That takes chutzpah, as does running a Super Bowl ad that makes light of the political situation in Tibet. Narrated by Timothy Hutton, the ad opens as if it’s going to be a worthy public service announcement about human rights issues in the country. “The people of Tibet are in trouble,” Hutton explains. “Their very culture is in jeopardy.” But a close shot on a man in traditional Tibetan garb pulls back to reveal that he is not an oppressed local — he’s a waiter in a Chicago restaurant who is serving Hutton “an amazing fish curry.”
In a blog post yesterday, Groupon explained the strategy behind the campaign:
The gist of the concept is this: When groups of people act together to do something, it’s usually to help a cause. With Groupon, people act together to help themselves by getting great deals. So what if we did a parody of a celebrity-narrated, PSA-style commercial that you think is about some noble cause (such as “Save the Whales”), but then it’s revealed to actually be a passionate call to action to help yourself (as in “Save the Money”)?
It’s a cheeky idea, and some viewers seem to have taken the joke as it was intended. As Slate commenter dvslty put it, “I liked the Timothy Hutton ad for admitting that, well we pretend to care about distant peoples and their problems but we really get more excited about saving a few bucks. Faux celebrity idealists take it on the chin.” But others found the use of Tibet in the ad crass and offensive.
Slate commenter Eric Stoveken makes a good point, noting that Groupon could have had their fun at the expense of celebrities without dragging Tibet into the proceedings:
I think the satire would have perhaps been better done with fictitious but plausible-sounding causes. That way, they could have a celebrity throwing their imaginary gravitas behind some truly tiny insignificant cause like “Save the Squirrels” or something.
The ads certainly aren’t in good taste. But while they may hurt the feelings of Tibetans, I’m not sure I see how else they do real harm. Though it may not have been the company’s intention, Groupon has put Tibet in the spotlight for a lot of people who wouldn’t otherwise be thinking about the country this morning. (Seemingly a bit rattled by the blowback, Groupon is also now encouraging people to donate money to charity in Tibet.) Whether the ad will help or harm Groupon is a tougher call. They were introducing themselves to a lot of people last night, and they seem to have made a bad first impression on a lot of them. But they also generated a lot of chatter. Will the ranks of the outraged-enough-to-unsubscribe outnumber the ranks of the curious-enough-to-sign-up? My gut tells me no.
