Soo looks like I will never again be perusing LivingSocial for a teeth-whitening deal ever again. The popular flash-sale website made a major mistake, and not one easily forgivable–seeing as though there was pre-planning involved.
The company, based in Washington D.C. threw a 7 Deadly Sins-themed Halloween Party last weekend, and the party’s “greed” room was crudely decorated with gold and silver decorations and filled with dreidels and gold coins.
Their publicity department admitted there were, in fact, dreidels in the “greed” room, described as a place to “get greedy challenging friends to a plethora of games,” and put up this apology:
“We have looked into it and determined that the inclusion of dreidels with the other games in the gaming room was not a smart choice, and we are very sorry to have upset anyone,” Nolan told The Washington Jewish Week. “Certainly this behavior does not reflect who we are as a company.”
It doesn’t reflect who they are as a company? Oh, please. Whoever works for a company reflects the behavior of the company—and whoever planned this offensive and ignorant idea had to have talked about it with others who probably got a good laugh out of the thought of it.
It’s amazing because a “greed” room can be filled with any number of things that represent decadence and abundance, yet of all items, they chose dreidels? For a company that offers myriad deals in so many diverse arenas; from aquarium outings to apple picking to dinner for two—they couldn’t have drawn from any other resource for creative inspiration besides somebody’s sinister humor and prejudice?
Did LivingSocial not take into consideration that at least one Jew in Washington D.C. would walk into the party and take offense to their blatant anti-Semitism? Do Jews work at LivingSocial? I’m sure there must be some—and it’s even possible that Jews who work there contributed to the “Jewy” decorations in bad taste. If so, I’d like to hear from you!
“Think Jews, Think Greed,” was the message they spread—and it’s all around lame and disappointing. Way to lose a bunch of great customers LivingSocial. You know how much we like deals.
