Tag archive: Tibet

The kerfuffle over collaborative coupon service Groupon's decidedly foolish Super Bowl ads just won't die. In a recent company profile in Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Groupon's 30-year-old CEO Andrew Mason placed the blame for the commercials — one of which seemed to many to equate the plight of Tibet with saving money on dinner — pointedly on the shoulders of the advertising firm that created the spot, CP&B. According to… Read More

In the wake of the tidal wave of negative criticism that followed Groupon's “Tibet” Super Bowl commercial, the coupon company says the ads were intended, not to offend, but to enlighten. In case you missed it: Groupon ran a commercial during CBS's broadcast of the Super Bowl on Sunday, which seemed to tactlessly equate the long-time suffering of people in Tibet with the ability of Groupon users to save money at a Tibetan… Read More

Aside from deciding the champion of pigskin, the Super Bowl has long been the time when companies roll out their most high-budget, titillating or controversial commercials. But last night, collaborative coupon-savings company Groupon apparently took a step too far. In case you missed last night's big game, here's what happened: Groupon's ad, for which the two-year-old company paid $3 million to air, opens with shots of the… Read More

In 1989, pro-democracy students, intellectuals, and activists began staging protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, culminating on June when the Chinese government sent in tanks to break up the protests…an action which led to photographer Jeff Widener's world-famous "Tank Man" image of an unknown, unarmed man halting a column of four tanks simply by standing in front of them and refusing to move. The number of… Read More

Google has launched a new music download service featuring tunes from major music labels—and all the tracks are available for free. The catch? The service is only available in China. Initially announced in August 2008, the new service is designed to help Google compete with Chinese market leader Baidu.com by offering music downloads. Unlike most of the rest of the world—where Google can command upwards of 80 percent of the… Read More

Last month, the Chinese government blocked access to video-sharing Web site YouTube because the site played hosts to videos of protests in Tibet, including riots in the Tibetan capital of Llasa. Now, China has blocked access to YouTube yet again, apparently because the site contains videos of Chinese soldiers beating Tibetans, includign monks. Videos from Reuters and other sources show footage of Chinese soldiers and paramilitary groups… Read More

Prior to the Olympics this summer, there was a furor when foreign journalists complained that the Chinese government was blocking ‘sensitive’ sites. In the spirit of the games, those were opened up. But now, after the outsiders have long gone, the government has re-blocked several of those sites, including the BBC Chinese site and Voice of America in Chinese, the BBC reports. According to a Chinese government spokesman, the… Read More

Customers of Apple's iTunes store in China have been having trouble signing into the service and downloading songs during the last week, leading to speculation that Chinese authorities are possibly trying to block access to a new Tibet-themed album from the Art of Peace Foundation, Songs for Tibet, featuring new music from artists like Sting, Garbage, Vanessa Carlton, and John Mayer, along with a 15-minute discussion from exiled… Read More

Speaking at a news conference as the Olympic flame was being taken to the top of Mt. Everest, Chinese Technology Minister Wan Gang refused to guarantee China will lift the veil of state-run Internet censorship for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. According to Reuters, China will guarantee sites will not be blocked "as much as possible" over the Olympics, but that "unhealthy" sites would be blocked to protect China's… Read More

China's state-run Xinhua news agency reports that China now claims to have the world's largest Internet-using population, reaching a total of 221 million Internet users at the end of February. The figure would put China ahead of most estimates for the size of the U.S. Internet-using population, which currently settle around 220 million, although Nielsen/NetRatings says there were 221 million U.S. Internet users in March. Xinhua… Read More

Inspectors for the International Olympic Committee have told Chinese authorities that they expect China to offer unrestricted Internet access for the duration of the Olympic games—as stipulated in the host city contract Beijing committed to when it was selected as host for the 2008 Summer Olympics. China runs the most extensive Internet surveillance and censorship operation on the planet, routinely restricting Chinese citizens'… Read More