Groupon Pulls Ad Campaign

Earlier this week, Groupon responded to the firestorm of controversy surrounding its Super Bowl commercials by pulling the Tibet ad at the center of the debate.

On Thursday, five days after the campain aired, the Chicago-based deals site announced it has axed the other two commercials as well.

"We hate that we offended people, and we’re very sorry that we did – it’s the last thing we wanted,"  CEO Andrew Mason wrote on the company's blog. "We’ve listened to your feedback, and since we don’t see the point in continuing to anger people, we’re pulling the ads."

After the Super Bowl, Twitter users and bloggers immediately responded that the Tibet advertisement in particular was outrageous and insensitive. On Monday morning, more astute publications panned the Tibet ad as the night's biggest loser.

Later Monday, Groupon spokeswoman Julie Mossler said the company would drop the Tibet ad and leave the Elizabeth Hurley-fronted "Rainforest" one and the Cuba Gooding Jr. "Whale" ad intact.

Groupon said the purpose of the ads was to draw attention to the featured causes while having a little fun at the same time. Mason wrote Thursday that Groupon raised $500,000 for the charities.

"We thought we were poking fun at ourselves, but clearly the execution was off and the joke didn’t come through," Mason wrote.

Mason said a few spots might run Friday because of ad scheduling.

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