Groupon says Trump and his TV show are “in the middle of some political criticism at the moment,” and the company wants to disassociate itself from the real estate mogul and possible presidential candidate.
Groupon says it never advertised on the Trump show on TV and only inadvertently advertised on the show’s website. Groupon said it bought ads on NBC.com, and those ads were rotated onto the Apprentice homepage:
“Groupon has never been a sponsor of The Apprentice on TV or on the web. We invest heavily in online advertising through networks that place ads on a rolling basis, meaning that we know one will appear on NBC.com but not specif ically which page. We know that some advertising appeared on the Apprentice home page a few weeks ago.”
After the poor reception for its Super Bowl ads and Groupon’s subsequent apology, the company apparently wants to keep its image squeaky clean. A political hot potato such as Donald Trump is a potential problem Groupon wants to keep a distance from. “It's the same reason we don't run deals on guns or abortion…this isn't a political statement, it's avoiding intentionally upsetting a segment of our customers,” Groupon said.
More About: advertising, Donald Trump, groupon, Super Bowl, the apprentice
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