Groupon CEO Andrew Mason announced the decision yesterday on the company's blog, stating: "We've listened to your feedback, and since we don't see the point in continuing to anger people, we're pulling the ads." Mason noted that a few ads may still be running on February 11, but will be off the air as soon as possible.
"To those who were offended, I feel terrible that we made you feel bad," wrote Mason. "While we’ve always been a little quirky, we certainly aren’t trying to be the kind of company that builds its brand on creating controversy – we think the quality of our product is a much stronger message."
Mason's decision comes after a post on February 7, the day after the game, in which he explained that he takes the causes mentioned in the ads — whales, Brazilian rain forest deforestation and human rights in Tibet — seriously, and that the company was raising money for organizations related to those causes.
Groupon's campaign, created by envelope-pushing ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky, featured celebrities Cuba Gooding Jr., Elizabeth Hurley and Timothy Hutton, making earnest-sounding pleas for the causes before segueing into a pitch for Groupon's deals. According to researcher Alterian, Groupon, which ran the Hutton ad during the Super Bowl, had the most negative reactions in social media out of any other game advertisers.