Groupon advert complaints upheld

 10 May 2011 Last updated at 18:35 ET  Groupon offers members large discounts on items like meals out and beauty treatments The group-buying website Groupon has had a number of complaints about its adverts upheld by the advertising watchdog, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

Banners on its site promising discounted flowers, meals and travel did not actually allow items to be bought for prices advertised.

Groupon said the problem lay with its German arm, which created the ads.

The ASA has upheld similar complaints about the company in the past.

Groupon works by daily offering members discounts from up to 90% on items ranging from meals out and beauty treatments to flying lessons.

The offers are typically available for a set period and for a limited number of buyers.

Two internet banner ads promised "all you can eat in London for ￡3" and "XXL - Bouquet of Flower in London" showing a price tag which stated "from ￡8".

Both these, and three other adverts, invited consumers to click through.

Members of the public and rival companies challenged whether the offers were genuine, because when they clicked on the ads and subscribed to the Groupon scheme, they were unable to find any such offers.

The ASA said that Groupon had not provided evidence that the offers were available or that they had been taken up by consumers.

A spokesman for Groupon said: "This problem arose because our banner adverts are produced in Germany, where online regulations differ to the UK.

"In order to prevent this issue from arising again, all of our ad designers are being trained in the new UK code."

It said that all future adverts would in future be specific to the UK market, and their content would reflect whether they related to current, past or upcoming deals.

The ASA welcomed Groupon's response, but said the advertisements must not appear again in their current form.

Heat 97, 76ers 89: Heat’s Opening Win Over 76ers Isn’t Without Complaints

The 76ers, who have speed to burn, raced to a double-digit lead in the first quarter. The Heat charged back for a 97-89 victory, its recovery seemingly fueled as much by the three officials as by the Heat’s three superstars: LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

James, Wade and Bosh were a combined 18 of 44 from the floor and had 63 points among them. Doug Collins, Philadelphia’s coach, said that he thought if his team held those three players to fewer than 75 points, the 76ers would be in a position to win. What Collins had not counted on was the disparity in fouls: the Heat shot 39 free throws to the 76ers’ 15.

The Heat attempted 15 free throws in the second quarter, the frequent stoppages in play slowing Philadelphia’s rhythm more than the zone that Miami, in desperation, resorted to after the 76ers opened up a 33-19 lead with 11 minutes 46 seconds left in the first half.

“The game grinded to a halt,” said Collins, who sidestepped any criticism of the officiating for fear of being fined by the league.

“My grandkids will lose their college fund,” he added, “so I have to dance around it.”

Elton Brand, who finished with 17 points for Philadelphia — and made the only free throw he tried — expressed surprise at not getting to the line more. “It’s kind of discouraging,” he said. “At the same time, we know we have to keep going.”

James, Wade and Bosh gained a degree of notoriety last July for their preening debut after the decisions by James and Bosh to join Wade on the Heat. They exuded confidence then, and after 58 regular-season victories earned the Heat the second seed in the Eastern Conference, they had every reason to go into the series against the 76ers, who finished 41-41, with a certain amount of swagger.

The postseason debuts of James and Bosh for the Heat attracted an AmericanAirlines Arena sellout crowd of 19,600. And just in case anybody in the Miami locker room needed reassuring, blue paper strips the length of a child’s ruler were placed on each player’s cushioned cubicle before the game. On each was the saying “With confidence you have won before you have started.”

In the other locker room, the underdogs from Philadelphia could point to their 30-19 record since the start of 2011 to bolster their belief in themselves. The 76ers played the first quarter as if they expected every shot to fall, and nearly all of them did. They converted 11 of their first 14 field-goal attempts to race to a 25-11 lead after 8:02.

“They were playing at a different speed than us,” Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra said, adding, “They’re relentless with that athleticism, that quickness and the way they play.”

Collins says that confidence is leaked, not lost. “I don’t think anybody ever takes your confidence,” he has said. “I think you give it away.”

As the second quarter wore on and the 76ers’ shots stopped falling and the fouls started piling up, they sputtered, as if they were running low on nerve. Behind James’s 12 points in the quarter, the Heat took a 54-49 lead into halftime. Miami extended its advantage to 78-62 near the end of the third quarter.

Bosh, appearing in his first playoff game in three years, scored 15 of his game-high 25 points in the second half. He was 8 of 17 from the field, and after the game he lamented those nine missed shots.

“The plus is that after the first quarter, we settled down and did a good job on the defensive side,” he said.

A free throw by Bosh in the third minute of the fourth quarter gave the Heat an 11-point lead. Could the 76ers patch the leak in their confidence?

“How would we respond when they punched us in the mouth?” Collins said. “I thought we did very well.”

Led by Thaddeus Young (20 points), Philadelphia’s sixth man in title only, the 76ers whittled the Heat’s advantage to 88-87 with 2:03 left. Wade, who had picked up his fifth foul with 7:20 left, returned with 3:58 left and carried the Heat. He had 6 of his 17 points in the final two minutes and 2 of his 7 rebounds in the final 20 seconds to hold off the 76ers.

“He has the intelligence and he is savvy enough to play with five fouls,” Spoelstra said.