Ads only work when you can convince people to try someplace or something new using words and images and symbolism. There's lots of experiences and businesses th

Ads only work when you can convince people to try someplace or something new using words and images and symbolism. There's lots of experiences and businesses that can't do that - not just because of size or money or location, but because words are fairly limited. I don't want local businesses to just have better ads; I don't even know how that would help me. Used well I think Groupon let's a business really put themselves on the line: we're willing to probably lose money on customers because we think those customers will learn the value of what we provide by experiencing that value. That's a risky proposition, but a fair one. Used that way, yes, I think it's good Groupon exists.