Two weeks ago, Groupon offended millions of people with an ad that seemed to mock the plight of the people of Tibet. For sixty years, Tibet has been oppressed by China, so the commercials seemed to be in bad taste. Now, perhaps coincidentally, we learn that Groupon plans to enter China in the near future.
On Super Bowl Sunday 2011, Groupon aired its now-infamous advertisement making lite of the people of Tibet. Early surveys showed an overwhelmingly negative response to the commercial by viewers. [Elliott, Stuart. “Groupon Ad on Super Bowl Rated a Miss by Many Fans,” NYTimes.com, 2/7/11. Downloaded at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/08/business/media/08adco.html]. And it did not take Groupon long to issue an official apology, stating that, “The last thing we wanted was to offend our customers…” [Source: Quinn, Rob. “Groupon Tweaking Controversial Super Bowl Ads,” Newser.com, 2/8/11. Downloaded from: http://www.newser.com/story/111502/groupon-super-bowl-ads-to-be-reworked.html].
But Groupon’s management appears to have larger things on its mind than Super Bowl advertisements. The company rejected Google’s purchase offer of $6 billion, and is reportedly looking at issue public stock itself, sometime in the near future. [source: Das, Anupreeta and Gina Chon, “Groupon Talks IPO,” The Wall Street Journal. Downloaded 1/14/2011: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703959104576081553310431910.html]. Groupon clearly is a company on the movie, with big plans.
This weekend we learned that one of those plans to expand into China, the largest single-country market in the world. The on-line coupon site has reportedly purchased a web domain called Gaopeng.com, which means something like “cherished friend sitting around the table” in Chinese. On-line coupon sites already exist in China, but Groupon has the financing and expertise to make a major entry in the market. One of the greatest difficulties of the entry will be the need to seek various permissions from the restrictive Chinese government. [Source: Chao, Loretta. “Groupon Appears to Be Gearing Up for China Market,” Wall Street Journal, 2/19/11. Downloaded from: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703407304576154194268892656.html]
All of this makes one wonder whether the high-profile anti-Tibet commercial was meant to ingratiate Groupon to its new Chinese government partners. Was the timing coincidence of the advertisement, so close to Groupon’s entry into China, coincidence or something more? I will vote for coincidence for now, but the timing is definitely curious.
Sources
Chao, Loretta. “Groupon Appears to Be Gearing Up for China Market,” Wall Street Journal, 2/19/11. Downloaded from: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703407304576154194268892656.html
Das, Anupreeta and Gina Chon, “Groupon Talks IPO,” The Wall Street Journal. Downloaded 1/14/2011: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703959104576081553310431910.html
Elliott, Stuart. “Groupon Ad on Super Bowl Rated a Miss by Many Fans,” NYTimes.com, 2/7/11. Downloaded at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/08/business/media/08adco.html
Quinn, Rob. “Groupon Tweaking Controversial Super Bowl Ads,” Newser.com, 2/8/11. Downloaded from: http://www.newser.com/story/111502/groupon-super-bowl-ads-to-be-reworked.html
