Super Bowl ad featuring Tibet triggers angry reaction in China

Read more at: CNN

Beijing (CNN) — The Super Bowl usually comes and goes without much notice in China.
However, this year, America’s famous sporting event took a different turn when a television advertisement featuring Tibetans and a Chicago-area Himalayan restaurant triggered angry comments from internet users in China.

The joke fell flat with Chinese internet users, at a time when the venture capital-backed Groupon is aggressively expanding its services and staffing in mainland China.

Tibet has long been a source of consistent domestic and international tension for China, which established control over the region in 1951. The Dalai Lama went into exile in 1959 following an uprising against communist leadership.

Tensions related to religious freedom, human rights, development and political sovereignty have plagued the region periodically ever since.

“Just saw the ad, are they oblivious?” asked user Mofei on Sina.com’s microblogging service Weibo.
“Groupon is doomed to failure now in China,” wrote user Yageboo on Sina’s Weibo. “Groupon’s lax approach to the Chinese market is not going to work!”