Do not quote:This is the email I sent a group at work proposing not to use Groupon, including our CEO, from whom I got a message in agreement.
Well, I had some cool links to show the group about other races using Groupon and was prepared to share that what seems to be the tipping point for success is offering about 50% off. And I was prepared to say that we might not net on this deal if we do it before the t-shirt deadline, but if we think of it in terms of acquisition (which I never expect to net on), it might be a cool thing to try.
I had called Groupon yesterday to determine our best strategy and to see if Groupon’s take on this would be cost prohibitive to us (there aren’t any upfront costs, but they take a percentage of each sale), but the salesperson called me back as I was heading out. I asked him to call me back this morning at 10:00 am.
However, last night on Facebook I saw a Groupon page that troubled me. Apparently Groupon has a blog-like section that is intended to be irreverent, satirical and funny, “Groupon Says.” They’re found at the bottom of the Featured Deal as you can see here:
http://www.groupon.com/<our city>/ But what I saw was in very poor taste and lacked good judgment. Worse, it promotes exclusion and bullying, even if they’re trying to be funny about it.
And I told the salesperson this morning that I cannot in good conscience do business with his company.
http://www.groupon.com/groupon_says/groupon-says-47268927If you can’t follow the link, I’ve put a screenshot of the post below.
You might think this is harmless, but I’ve seen too many “let natural selection take its course with these kids” reader comments from *adults* when news stories about life threatening food allergies appear online. There are folks in our society who don’t need encouragement to exclude others. If Groupon had used “no one with a disability allowed” (a life threatening food allergy is a hidden disability according to the ADA), the absurdity of this sentence might have been understood. Or, how about “no Aspies (referring to someone with Asperger’s) allowed”? Right—absurd.
In my own situation, my child has been made to sit in the hallway at school more than once when a mom brought in cupcakes for (almost) everyone while the rest of the class had a party in the classroom—because it was somehow okay to exclude the kid with a peanut allergy and because having junk food was somehow more important than teaching children about inclusion. Before I wised up, he was excluded from instructional events at school. He’s been kept out of a number of “tree houses” over the last 13 years. It’s not funny to me.
As an organization that serves people with disabilities, I cannot recommend we use this company. Groupon as of yet seems unrepentant, and the salesperson I talked with
laughed. After saying he thought it wasn’t a big deal, he eventually admitted it was insensitive.
I think <our event> will be huge without it. We can get more exposure with a Facebook ad and not lose the money from discounts. I don’t think we should use Groupon this year.
