VIDEO Timothy Hutton Groupon commercial trivializes plight of Tibet

In an intentional attempt to be controversial, Groupon.com ran a series of commercials during the Super Bowl starring big name celebrities like Sheryl Crow and Cuba Gooding, Jr. highlighting serious issues such as rain forest depletion and whaling before trivializing them with a “humorous” comment about how they saved a few bucks from the online coupon site in some sort of related activity.

Making light of whaling and deforestation are bad enough, but they really ratcheted up the tastelessness in a spot featuring actor Timothy Hutton who spoke about the Chinese invasion of Tibet and the ensuing eradication of the country’s culture and traditions amidst numerous killings and violations of the Tibetan’s basic human rights before mentioning that he got a great deal on a meal at a Tibetan restaurant in Chicago.

Here is the actual commercial followed by the transcript:

Mountainous Tibet – one of the most beautiful places in the world. This is Timothy Hutton. The people of Tibet are in trouble. Their very culture is in jeopardy. But they still whip up an amazing fish curry, and since 200 of us bought at Groupon.com we’re each getting $30 worth of Tibetan food for just $15 at Himalayan restaurant in Chicago.

I realize that the commercials are meant to be “controversial” and just by writing this post I am essentially doing my part to help promote Groupon, but I was with a friend of mine who recently traveled to Tibet when it came on and his astounded reaction motivated me to want to say something.

It should be noted that on Groupon’s website they include a button to “Help The Tibet Fund develop a youth-employment-and-economic-development initiative in refugee exile communities.” My guess is that you can donate $30 by only giving $15 and the Tibet Fund will actually only see $7.50.

In case you were unaware of the issues in Tibet, you can learn more at FreeTibet.org. Here’s the intro paragraph from their “About Us” page:

“Tibet was an ancient country the size of western Europe when it was invaded by the People’s Liberation Army of China in 1950. A place with a unique culture, history and identity, Tibet has been changed dramatically by the Chinese invasion and occupation. Not only have many Tibetan lives been lost, Tibetans in Tibet do not enjoy basic human rights and the Chinese government have introduced policies by which Tibetan culture, language and natural resources are being systematically and irrevocably eroded.”

All of this being said, I’m sad to say you can get some pretty amazing deals from Groupon.com – usually around 50% off of lots of local restaurants, retailers, salons and such. From what I understand the businesses only get 50% of what you pay so Groupon is making a good deal of money, but what does that matter when you get $20 worth of barbecue for $10?!? They just need to stop it with the offensive commercials.

UPDATE – Groupon has issued an official statement on the commercials via a blog on their site here is what they had to say:

“The gist of the concept is this: When groups of people act together to do something, it’s usually to help a cause. With Groupon, people act together to help themselves by getting great deals. So what if we did a parody of a celebrity-narrated, PSA-style commercial that you think is about some noble cause (such as “Save the Whales”), but then it’s revealed to actually be a passionate call to action to help yourself (as in “Save the Money”)?

“Since we grew out of a collective action and philanthropy site (ThePoint.com) and ended up selling coupons, we loved the idea of poking fun at ourselves by talking about discounts as a noble cause. So we bought the spots, hired mockumentary expert Christopher Guest to direct them, enlisted some celebrity faux-philanthropists, and plopped down three Groupon ads before, during, and after the biggest American football game in the world.

“You can view the already aired commercials, as well as new ones as we release them, at SaveTheMoney.org . And if you’ve saved enough money for yourself and feel like saving something else, you can donate to mission-driven organizations that are doing great work for the causes featured in our PSA parodies. If you guys pony up, Groupon will contribute matching donations of up to $100,000 for three featured charities – Rainforest Action Network, buildOn, and the Tibet Fund — and Groupon credit of up to $100,000 for contributions made to Greenpeace.“