GroupOn’s Offensive Ad Campaign

You’ve probably seen at least one of the parody celebrity PSA/cause-du-jour commercials that comprise the sum total of  GroupOn’s corporate wit. If you haven’t here is one I find offensive as a both an ecological minded human being and as a feminist. In other words, my ecofeminist raged against this hard. Take it away Ms. Hurley:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6rZz1wOtTw&feature=channel

I find there are two levels to this ad that are nauseating to me:  One is the, “Oh well, too bad about the rainforest. Me and my gal pals saved a bundle of dough with GroupOn getting our genitals waxed. Did you hear them yelp in pain? Yeah it’s funny to hear us suffering for your beauty standards. Makes you wonder if the way we regard nature and the way we regard ourselves is linked. Well, no time to philosophize. Got to go. An underpaid Asian woman is going to rip my pubes out. ”

And the second is, “Not all deforestation is bad…in fact you know what the real ecological disaster is? Your horrible, hairy bush is. So thank you, GroupOn. I am now correctly prioritized. Should the crucible of this planet’s biodiversity crash, at least I can bravely face the crisis without worrying about my disgustingly unkempt vagina.”

This whole campaign is awful. There are three ads so far and all of them are offensive to people of conscience.  There is one coming out soon with Sheryl Crow. I wonder how much she will save on a dune buggy ride once she quits worrying about those starving kids in the Sahara.