BREAKING: Facing Trump Backlash, Groupon Announces It Will Stop Sponsoring The Apprentice

[kpete]

Source: Think Progress

BREAKING: Facing Trump Backlash, Groupon Announces It Will Stop Sponsoring The Apprentice
Potential GOP candidate Donald Trump has been peddling false and malicious attacks on President Obama. He gains much of his prominence from his prime-time NBC show The Apprentice. This morning at 9:30 am on Twitter, ThinkProgress urged concerned citizens to ask Groupon to stop sponsoring the show.

Moments ago, a Groupon representative announced that, in the future, they will block their advertisements from appearing on The Apprentice website.



Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/2011/04/28/groupon-dumps-trump/

[Drale]

1. This is how Fox and all other hate news will die

[monmouth]

2. Wow...How impressive the "people" can be when they unite....n/t

[IllinoisBirdWatcher]

22. Here are some others We the People can urge to follow:

Dr Pepper/Seven Up, Inc.
Attn: Consumer Relations
P.O. Box 86077
Plano, TX 75086-9077
800-696-5891

Farouk Systems Group
250 Pennbright Dr.
Houston, Texas 77090
800-237-9175
They feature the Chump show on their homepage.

Australian Gold
6270 CORPORATE DR.
Indianapolis, IN 46278
800-633-0069
[e-mail]

Omaha Steaks
10909 John Galt Blvd
P.O. Box 3300
Omaha, NE 68103
800-228-9872

OnStar
Daniel F. Akerson
GM Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
P.O. Box 33170
Detroit, MI 48232-5170

[Joe Bacon]

46. John Galt Boulevard??????

Well, you can bet I'm through with Omaha Steaks forever...

[Ken Burch]

48. The country and your coronary arteries will thank you.

n/t.

[No Elephants]

53. Beef is not their only product.

I receive their stuff as gifts sometimes. They also offer seafood, skinless chicken breasts, etc.

My favorite is their apple tart. I've never made a purchase, but I had been thinking about ordering some of their side dishes and desserts. No more, though, but I will miss the apple thingy.

[Ken Burch]

54. Well, you can probably find a recipe online that's better and make it yourself.

anyway, thanks for your decision. The most difficult sacrifices are the most meaningful.

[No Elephants]

55. "make it yourself" "Aye, there's the rub."

You're welcome. Kind of you to say, but, in the scheme of things, missing a particular apple tart is not really a difficult sacrifice.

[trumad]

71. Not named after the Atlas character...

Named after this guy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Galt_%28novelist%29

[ChiciB1]

62. Thanks For The Info... I HAD Thought After O'Donnell Went Off On NBC

the other night that there would be some action by NBC, but nothing yet. Guess We'll have to wait and see. UNFORTUNATELY, some of the mainstream shows I watch are produced by NBC, but I'm refusing to watch their shows for now.

Glad I have a DISH!!!

[jillan]

3. It's like music to my ears!

[Uncle Joe]

4. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, kpete.

[chowder66]

5. Woo hoo!!!

[Kingofalldems]

6. K and R for the freepers and teabaggers to read

[freshwest]

18. Ooooh, snap!

:nopity:

[City Lights]

7. Ha!

Suck on that, The Chump!

It's a start. I wish other advertisers would do the same. Let The Chump fund his own shitty teevee show.

[lifesbeautifulmagic]

8. Groupon is the best

I use and love this company!

[2banon]

42. what is this company's product or service?

[Lasher]

58. Groupon negotiates huge discounts—usually 50-90% off—with popular businesses.

For example: You can buy a coupon for $150 from Groupon, then redeem it for a $424 hotel stay at Sea Crest Resort north of Los Angeles. Well you could have but that offer has expired. Check out their website:

http://www.groupon.com/learn

[2banon]

74. thanks.. maybe when I'm gainfully employed it'll come in handy for me..

right now, my purchasing power even for bargains is at an all time low.. :hi:

[Spinny Liberal]

9. I hope more follow

I loathe this guy for reviving an issue that was finally starting to die down.

[forty6]

11. Racism is still very much alive, and Trump was using the racists

to shamelessly self-promote and get national attention 24/7 !

There is more racism, sadly, in America than anyone can imagine, except someone as outrageously self-serving as Donald Trump, who used it "wisely" to catapult himself into daily news headlines for over a month. Just amazing what that man will do for fame and money.

I imagine Trump would saw his mother in half to get what he wants.

The most despicable capitalizer upon American racism ever!

[Spinny Liberal]

12. ITA

All for people to watch his lame ass show. Ugh!!

[forty6]

10. GREAT MOVE !!!! Any corporation that continues to ignore racism

and overt hostility toward Obama should face the consequences.

Groupon made a wise choice, and an important statement about Trump.

[obxhead]

66. Agree with the racism

Some have overt hostility justifiably so. Not all hostility is born from racism.

[Scottybeamer70]

13. Good on 'em!!

Thanks k pete for the info.

[Dappleganger]

14. Awesome, I love Groupon even more for this.

Have already used them twice this year and think a lot of their services.

[former9thward]

15. I wrote Groupon to thank them and their representative

wrote me back saying they don't know what this is about. They said they do all their advertising online and have never run ads on the Apprentice. So something is wrong about the OP.

[IllinoisBirdWatcher]

21. I just wrote them too. Everyone can do so here:

A company with class:
http://www.groupon.com/contact-us

[Akoto]

23. In the OP, it states that ...

... Groupon will block its advertising from running on the Apprentice website. So, what the representative told you may be correct, without the OP being wrong. :)

[former9thward]

31. I see that. I thought they were running ads on the show.

I have never seen the Apprentice or their website so I don't know who advertises there.

[former9thward]

30. Delete wrong spot

[No Elephants]

57. Good on you. Most are more likely to complain than to express gratitude.

I was going to suggest it, but saw your post.

[BumRushDaShow]

16. K&R!!!

:applause:

The economic boycott of Glen BecKKK helped to bring him down and another economic hit for this media-craving racist moron may do the same.

[freshwest]

17. Keep it up! Money is the only thing they have any respect for.

[marasinghe]

19. whoops! sorry. mistook that headline for an announcement ...

that herr schwarzenegger was gonna be a contestant on the next "Celebrity Apprentice".

my bad.

[Amonester]

20. K & R

[Overseas]

24. K&R and Many Thanks !

[Taverner]

25. How much do I love this...let me count the ways...

[Lifelong Protester]

26. good! I already threw out my NBC novelty "The Apprentice"

magnet I bought 6 years ago, and the tee-shirt is going to make some good cleaning rags.

[Firebrand Gary]

27. I bet that the rest of the clowns will appear at any moment, these town halls are just unacceptable.

Time to change the subject, people talking about their retirement and medicare.

OH NO, grab a flag and sing "A-M-E-R-I-C-A, A-M-E-R-I-C-A" , do it on FOX news, you know where real Americans go for news.

[Danmel]

28. I called Snapple today

And told them I wouldn't buy any of their products until they separate from Trump. Told them invidious racism cannot be condoned and not something they want to be associated with. We'll see.

[Jefferson23]

29. K&R n/t

[delunapark]

34. Called Omaha Steaks tonight

They were very concerned and stated they were recording my comments about Mr. Trump. I hope they will re-consider any further advertising. Very friendly people.

[graywarrior]

32. Bet he gets sponsored by Brawny, Angel Soft, and Dixie Plates and

we all know who owns them.

[neoralme]

33. Does anyone here know Groupon's reputation? It is not good.

[quakerboy]

49. Based on what do you say that?

in what regard is their reputation not good?

[neoralme]

63. Google it yourself. Do you know anyone in SAG?

[quakerboy]

65. I did google it, before my first response

I found adequate consumer reviews and some on the business side discouraging it, saying that groupon is not a good advertising investment. I wasn't aware of them until about a month ago, but for the one thing I did buy through them, it was handy and worked without any issues.


SAG=Screen Actors Guild? Assuming that the two comments are connected somehow, even combining that in the search terms does not give any results that would lead me to believe they have some sort of reputation issue.

[neoralme]

67. I'm in SAG. I was working on a gig about a year ago

when someone brought up Groupon in relationship to a commercial he has worked on for the Olympics. Groupon stiffed the producer on the payment. Then a few others chimed in about what they had heard about Groupon. I'm sure they are just wonderful and will have a rebirth because of their stance on Donald Trump, but I have never heard one good thing about them except just now from you. I'll make some more inquiries next week if I think of it.

[nolabear]

35. YAY Groupon!!

[ljm2002]

36. Excellent!!! Good for them!

About time scum like Trump get called on their race-baiting crap.

K&R

[IamK]

37. Trump will buy them and burn down HQ....

[ShadowLiberal]

38. Wow, I didn't expect a sponser to drop Trump so quickly, glad I was wrong

I think the ultimate kick to Trump's ego would be most of the sponsors pull out of his show, then NBC tells Trump they're going to go with a different person to host the Apprentice next season. (Trump's contract for the Apprentice is up after this season, hence it seems likely Trump is making all of his noise to boost his ratings to get more money when they renew the contract)

[Garbo 2004]

51. Groupon wasn't a sponsor. Because of controversy they're asking the outfit that cycles their ads

on the web to not cycle their ads on The Apprentice website. Per Groupon statement. http://www.groupon.com/blog/cities/things-go-viral-on-the-internet-who-knew/

[Trajan]

39. Yay .... I sent them a little note last night ....

I sent lots of companies a message about Trump and their advertising ...

Trump did this to himself ... He is an absolute embarrassment, and there is no hiding it now, thanks to Obama's decision to expose the liars once and for all ...

[mackerel]

40. As my bestie tweeted:

"Trump, whose hair was born on a lion's ass in Kenya, has some balls."

[2banon]

41. who or what is Groupon??

[bertman]

43. This is good, but the BEST thing to do is just turn off the TeeVee. REC. nt

[Justina For Justice]

44. Thanks for Posting This -- We Need to Get Trump's Racist Rants Off Our Airways and Cable Shows.

We need to counter Trump's racist attacks on President Obama -- and implicitly on all Black and Hispanic peoples in the U.S. -- by discouraging the national networks from giving him a platform to spew his racist statements.

I just sent e-mails to the following folks to demand that they remove Trump from their programs, you might want to do the same:

[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail]

[yurbud]

45. kick

[Garbo 2004]

47. Groupon never sponsored The Apprentice. Unfounded rumor that they did, according to Groupon.

Statement by Groupon:

Someone online began a petition to boycott Groupon because they believed we were a sponsor of the Apprentice, a show that is in the middle of some political criticism at the moment.

Then, just like that, it was announced we were pulling our sponsorship and boycotting the Apprentice and NBC. Pulling a fake sponsorship that didn’t exist….

Here’s the thing: 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 specifically which page. We know that some advertising appeared on the Apprentice home page a few weeks ago.

Enough consumers have contacted us to warrant ensuring that we don’t place ads on the Apprentice homepage in the future. 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.

http://www.groupon.com/blog/cities/things-go-viral-on-the-internet-who-knew/

[MattSh]

56. Looks like you're part of the fact-based community!

That seems to be optional enough around here...

[Hubert Flottz]

50. Donnie, You're FIRED!

[alp227]

52. I've only seen The Apprentice a few times in 2004

and never again since, but good job Groupon

[No Elephants]

59. Wowza! .No one even talked to Groupon before publishing this story?

What passes for journalism is 100% worthless.

[neoralme]

64. This actually may have helped Trump.

[LanternWaste]

68. No. It didn't.

No. It didn't.

[leftynyc]

60. Welcome to the free market donnie

He's such a schmuck.

[HighLowRoller87]

61. WOW! Looks like I have to put their app back on my iPod Touch.

[Garbo 2004]

69. Why? Groupon never sponsored the Apprentice. So they're not doing what they never did.nt

[bobthedrummer]

70. K&R n/t

[Plucketeer]

72. Well, whether this is for real or not.....

This is what I wrote to NBC, regarding Hair Boy:

While I have NEVER watched one of Trump's "reality" shows (nor ANY phony reality show, for that matter), I have to admit that I've seen more of him in the past week than I have of some of my immediate family members in years.
As I'm typing this out, I'm telling myself that what I'm really doing is confirming what Donald (and quite likely, NBC) have hoped - that his buffoonish blustering would garner him the overload of promotion to push his ratings even higher. But I can not just sit silent while he maligns the good character of our president and tries to ever-so-covertly raise questions that bring racial uglies up from their slumber spots.

The wife and I DO NOT CARE as to the worth of Mr. Trump OR of his worth to NBC. Honestly - with concerted effort - I sincerely doubt I could care less about that blubbering blowhard. What I do care about is his dredging up doubt(s) at a time when our nation needs positive thoughts - not libelous slander.

I'm not writing to suggest you dump Trump. I'm only writing to ask you to consider whether this oral diarrhea he spews is in NBC's or the nation's best interests. We already try our best to avoid watching ANYthing on NBC (which I confess is remarkably easy). The ASSociation with Donald Duc.... er, Trump is just further vindication for such avoidances.

Here's the reply I got back:

We appreciate you taking the time to contact us to express your opinion. We will pass your comments along to the appropriate people. Thank you.

[Vidar]

73. Bravo, Groupon!

[wordpix]

75. I'm impressed!

[sarcasmo]

76. Nice!

[Garbo 2004]

77. ThinkProgress still hasn't fully disclosed that Groupon was never a sponsor of The Apprentice? nt

[Imagevision]

78. Groupon, owned by GE.

[DailyGrind]

79. Not true ... they were never a sponsor

I sent them a couple of emails and they actually got right back to me that they weren't sponsors in any way. I guess it's some free advertising for them at any rate.

I actually doubt that a company would drop a possible presidential candidates show just because some people weren't happy with his political stance. That would be essentially a full on endorsement of the Democrat party, which I don't think any company who wants to sell to everyone is going to do.