I remember when a friend first recommended that I subscribe to this cool email-a-day service that offers random great deals on local businesses. Sure, seems harmless enough, I thought, so I passively jumped on the Groupon bandwagon. To date I've only bought a total of two Groupon deals.Most of the time I ignored their emails; their discounts may be fantastic, but my disposable income always hovers around zero. Still, when I saw some of these deals, they did seem outrageous. I couldn't believe these businesses that were willing to lose that much money to advertise through Groupon . . . but I still didn't pay it much mind. Advertising so often means paying top dollar to whore yourself out to the public--if a business wants to give me half off my entire meal at an Asian restaurant, why not?
Well, by now you've all heard about the Groupon Super Bowl commercial. Unbelievable. It's disgusting to think about how much money they shelled out to put such an offensive commercial on the air during one of the biggest sports events in the country. That ad is a little slice of everything that disgusts me about American culture. Moreover, that ad pushed me past the tipping point and made me actively consider Groupon's business tactics. It was bad enough to think about the enormous cut they take for themselves. Now their true colors have shown through. The idea behind Groupon is not a horrible one, but their greed is overwhelming. This company doesn't help businesses; it robs them with joy.
Goodbye, Groupon.
