This was a weirdly strong memory from my childhood. The BBC’s consumer rights programme Watchdog, which my parents always watched, would cover it on an almost

This was a weirdly strong memory from my childhood. The BBC’s consumer rights programme Watchdog, which my parents always watched, would cover it on an almost weekly basis. It really was a staggeringly stupid thing to do. And it was weird to watch Groupon convince so many small businesses to do similarly ruinous promotions in the 2000s.