In the history of Super Bowl ads, there were those that got forgotten as soon as the game resumed. There were those that got mentioned around the water cooler. And then there were those that got a company called racist. For examples of this last group, you can look to Salesgenie.com.
Of course, if you’d rather not give the company the traffic, there’s plenty to see at YouTube and the various sites that are protesting the commercials. Or you can search for Salesgenie on Google and click on its sponsored ad. We’re not saying you should, but it’s another option, anyway.
Back to the hubbub, then (and actually, if you used Google just now, you’re already in the right place). The sixth, eighth, ninth, and tenth results for Salesgenie’s name relate to its Super Bowl ads.
Jason Calacanis‘s article is named, simply enough, “SalesGenie racist super bowl commercial.” Hee-Haw Marketing chips in with “The Bigger Sales Genie Blunder.” A Portfolio.com story then discusses “SalesGenie’s Tasteless, ‘Racist’ Super Bowl Ad,” and FanHouse runs the title “Worst Super Bowl Commercial: Sales Genie.”
Now, the Portfolio.com article points out that Salesgenie’s CEO, Vin Gupta, is Indian, and it was Gupta who wrote the ads featuring both Indian and Chinese characters. Also, Gupta wasn’t exactly trying to make tasteful masterpieces, and not everyone who saw the commercials was offended.
Still, it’s hard not to wonder what sort of new-customers-to-social-stigma ratio Salesgenie has encountered. We hope Gupta will at least share the first half of that statistic.
