Super Bowl Commercial Controversy

Pulse

oi-Suparna Chakaraborthy

By Suparna Chakaraborthy

Tuesday, February 8, 2011, 9:58

The Super Bowl commercial by the discount company Groupan has sparked controversy overseas and in China. The Super Bowl commercial by Groupan is based on the Tibet tragedy and have enraged people. Internet has been bombarded with negative comments for the Super Bowl commercial and their discount service.

The Super Bowl commercials starts as a scenic beauty of the snow capped Tibetian mountain. Then, appears Hollywood celebrity Timothy Hutton, who says - “The people of Tibet are in trouble. Their culture is in jeopardy." As soon as you begin to think that the commercial is a message about Tibet, Hutton comes up with a deal form Groupan for a fish curry dish at a Himalayan restaurant in Chicago.

This commercial aired at Super Bowl on Sunday sparked controvercies and enrages people. He reason being that the commercial took up a serious cause and then joked on it by bringing up a as trivial matter as a discount. Bob Thompson is the director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at New York's Syracuse University said, "The biggest problem is that the commercial is just not very funny. I mean, you can get away with making fun of some pretty sacred cow situations, if the result is really hysterical and it really works."

In just 30 seconds after the commercial, angry blogs and comments against Groupan came live on Internet. Each one of which accused Groupan for being insensitive. In Facebook some people started a group called "Shame On You Groupan, Double Donate". This group has provided videos and information of China's treatment of Tibetians.

Whe on one hand there are people fighting against the outrageous act of Groupan, the same time on the other hand there are groups which are trying to look at the brighter side. International Campaign for Tiber, in their blog has mentioned that thought the Super Bowl commercial was tacky but it has brought huge attention to the cause of Tibet. Super Bowl was not famous in China but with the Super Bowl commercial the game has attracted attention.

After all the criticism, Groupan CEO, Andrew Mason in his blog has said that Groupan takes the cause of Tibet very seriously. The ad he feels will bring more funding, support and commercial highlight to the Tiber cause.