Groupon竟发藏独广告 看看CNN怎么说

欲借腾讯进军中国市场的全球最大团购网站Groupon，近日出资约300万美元，购买了第45届超级碗橄榄球总决赛上的广告时段，内容竟然涉及支持藏独，宣称“西藏人现在有难了，他们的文化正陷入危机”。另据消息，Groupon还向藏独组织“西藏基金会”（Tibet fund）提供资助，该基金会从1990年开始便接受美国“国家民主基金会”的经援。它的主要工作是文教方面，包括西藏声音计划,几个主要理事都是国际声援西藏运动咨询理事会理事。

英文配音：西藏，世界上最美丽的地方之一。但西藏人有麻烦了，他们快要文化灭绝。

这位洋人(提摩西赫顿)在芝加哥一家名叫喜马拉雅的餐厅用餐，他看着美食自言自语，说西藏人 有麻烦，他们快要文化灭绝，接着他用带了点玩笑和讽刺意味的语气说，不过，他们的咖喱鱼还是一样棒。赫顿接着讲到他在Groupon网站上取得这家餐厅的五折优惠券。

超级杯在美国有一、二亿人收看，宣传效果巨大。现在这公司已经进军中国，要赚中国的钱。

美国媒体报道，芝加哥网上折扣优惠券公司Groupon在周日超级杯美式橄榄球大赛中，动用三百万美元播放3个电视广告，但由侯顿Timothy Hutton演出的西藏30秒广告，当中指西藏文化面临灭绝﹐使该广告引出最多负面反应。该公司发言人毛莎娜Julie Mossler表示，他们会取消该西藏广告，并且不会再播。

该公司创办人马逊Andrew Mason在官方博客指，该广告原意是名人讽刺式风格，有关西藏主题，但观众显然仅看见人类痛苦的笨拙掩饰。马逊则表示，该公司原意为集合群众做些好事，在一个节省金钱机构www.savethemoney.org，发起向一个西藏基金捐助，但承认没有做足查询才发起活动。其实他们的管理层曾讨论是否要提及该捐赠机构，但最后决定只提及Groupon 网站。

而英国社交媒体Alterian指，Groupon在超级杯赛事中，引来最多负面的社交议论。

Groupon广告引来大陆网民在讨论区议论，BBS未名空间站有网友发起抵制Groupon，署名sayyousayme的网友，建议大家不要订购它的优惠券。水木社区内有网民Piaoliang呼吁，Groupon superbowl 广告骂中国毁灭西藏文化，不要到那里工作。

署名“方舟子”的网民指，俺是汉人，西藏这么喜欢他们自己的文化，就继续农奴制好了。而网友hahalagrange批评，Groupon要支持海外藏独，还要弄个广告说藏文化在俺手里快挂了。

四川电脑工程师蒲飞指，他看过两遍这个广告，认为内容没有太多西藏政治化的问题，没有谈及西藏主权，只是希望希望网民向一个西藏基金会捐款，在海外这是很平常。

蒲飞又指，大陆政治及军事网站，例如铁血网站论坛上，有网友批评这间公司是对中国政府及人民的挑衅，希望有关部门还击．因为该公司要在中国运作，网民呼吁杯葛它的产品。他说：中国网民对西藏与其他地区的态度非常不一样，平常在网站上说四川文化灭絶，没人理你，只要讲到西藏文化灭絶，差不多有一帮人跳出来说这是鼓吹藏独之类的话。

湖北网民刘逸明则表示，中国网民现时比较觉醒，但在民族问题上，很多人还是比较感性，水木社区及BBS未名空间站不算是大型讨论区，杯葛Groupon行动，未引起很大反应。他说：国内的网友一般来说是看不到（Groupon广告），但很多像官方人士，包括公安局、国保、国安人员，包括记者，他们都会看得到，他们可能会煽动国内网友，对这个事情进行杯葛。

记者曾致电三名分别在褔建、深圳及北京的网友，他们均表示没注意到这个广告，不知道有这件事。

另外，BiaNews报道，创新工厂CEO李开复在微博透露，Groupon进军中国由它早前收购的德国CityDeal 主导。今年1月上旬，Groupon进军中国的消息被证实，其后又被确认与腾讯公司合资在中国建立团购网站，引起大陆内团购网站的警惕。拉手网等团购网站将于近日修改企业招聘条件，曾在Groupon工作者将不録取，以遏制Groupon入中国，原因是该公司在中国疯狂挖角。

来自CNN的英文报道：

The Super Bowl usually comes and goes without much notice in China.

However, this year, America's famous sporting event took a different turn when a TV ad featuring Tibetans and a Chicago-area restaurant triggered angry comments from internet users in China.

The ad by Groupon -- a U.S.-based company that helps online group buyers get discounts -- was to generate support for the Tibet Fund, an organization that aims to preserve Tibetan culture.

During the ad, actor Timothy Hutton appears to be served a meal at Himalayan Restaurant in Chicago. He says, "The Tibetan people are in trouble. Their culture is in jeopardy."

(CNN) -- After taking 24 hours of online flak for a set of cheeky Super Bowl ads that critics say went too far, Groupon founder Andrew Mason has explained, but not apologized, in a blog post.

In three spots that ran before, during and after Sunday's game, commercials that appeared to promote humanitarian and environmental causes -- most notably Chinese government oppression in Tibet -- swerved to become tongue-in-cheek pitches for Groupon deals.

Critics, many of whom took to Facebook and Twitter to complain, said the ads, directed by actor-director Christopher Guest of "This is Spinal Tap" "Best In Show" fame, made light of serious situations.

"We would never have run these ads if we thought they trivialized the causes -- even if we didn't take them as seriously as we do, what type of company would go out of their way to be so antagonistic?" Mason wrote on Groupon's official blog.

In the Tibet ad, actor Timothy Hutton bemoans the human-rights situation in Tibet before quipping from a Tibetan restaurant, "But they still whip up an amazing fish curry!"

In the two others, actor Cuba Gooding Jr. bemoans the world's dwindling number of whales before talking up a discounted whale-watching cruise and actress Elizabeth Hurley bemoans imperiled Amazon rainforests before promoting a deal on a Brazilian wax (adding that "not all deforestation is bad").

Any backlash against the ads didn't appear to have any immediate impact on the popularity of Groupon's iPhone app, which was the third-most popular free application Tuesday morning in Apple's App Store.

Mason notes that Groupon began as The Point, an activism-based site, and that the Web page for the Groupon ads offers a link to donate to each of the causes that the ads spoof. "We took this approach knowing that, if anything, they would bring more funding and support to the highlighted causes," he wrote.

Groupon is matching the amount its customers donate to the causes, up to $100,000 each.

In a blog post, Greenpeace biologist John Hocevar (who also, coincidentally, founded Students for a Free Tibet), praised the ads.

"Greenpeace is happily participating in the campaign," he wrote. "The truth is that the 'Save the Money' campaign and the commercial are really helping us save the whales."

Mason said that, rather than making fun of charitable causes, the ads were intended to make light of Groupon itself, and advertising in general.

"Our ads highlight the often trivial nature of stuff on Groupon when juxtaposed against bigger world issues ... ," he wrote.

He also took a somewhat defensive potshot at other Super Bowl ads.

"When we think about commercials that offend us, we think of those that glorify antisocial behavior -- like the scores of Super Bowl ads that are built around the crass objectification of women," Mason said. "Unlike those ads, no one walks away from our commercials taking the causes we highlighted less seriously.

"Not a single person watched our ad and concluded that it's cool to kill whales. In fact -- and this is part of the reason we ran them -- they have the opposite effect."

Mason never apologizes directly in the post, but says "the last thing we wanted was to offend our customers."

Based on comments posted on the blog, some Groupon customers were satisfied with the explanation -- but not all.

"I do actually appreciate knowing the backstory here. I agree that the idea isn't exactly horrible, especially as you've laid it out," one reader wrote. "But the finished, as-aired Tibet commercial was horrible. It did trivialize the cause. That you didn't mean to be offensive doesn't mean you weren't."