Photo by Donnie Weatherhead
A few months back, a tiny group of demonstrators rallied outside LivingSocial’s playpen and office at 918 F Street NW, asking the District-based daily deals company to stop offering packages that send buyers on excursions that feature an afternoon of shooting guns and a trip to the bar. “Deadly deals” is how the activist group CREDO Action labeled such offers, saying they were rather distasteful and even reckless in the wake of last December’s mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.
Well, it appears their pleas were heard by somebody with some clout. D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson today sent a letter to LivingSocial CEO Tim O’Shaughnessy asking the company to get out of the drinking-and-shooting business.
“There is no justification to packaging activities that market firearms and alcohol consumption, and I urge LivingSocial to establish a policy that discontinues the marketing of these deals,” Mendelson writes. “Offering consumers a product that seemingly glorifies the opportunity to shoot a firearm and consume alcohol is, in my view, too flippant with the responsibility that is associated with gun use.”
Mendelson, who has sponsored legislation easing gun registration requirements, says that LivingSocial should adopt the same policy its main competitor, Chicago-based Groupon, did a few weeks after the Newtown shooting.
“We have very strict rules around our events and take great care to ensure safety at all times,” LivingSocial spokeswoman Sara Parker says. “We are not aware of any current deals offered by LivingSocial that mix shooting and alcohol. We have not yet heard directly from Councilman Chairman Phil Mendelson, but welcome a dialog with him at any time.”
But Mendelson might be worried over nothing when it comes to the blammo-and-blotto deals, for which he can thank LivingSocial’s shaky finances. The packages were sold under LivingSocial’s “Adventures” division, which was shuttered earlier this month, with 30 more of the company’s staffers finding themselves laid off. (Some were later re-hired to manage the events for which tickets were already sold.)
With the end of the “Adventures” brand, Parker says LivingSocial is no longer offering any shooting-and-drinking excursions. Instead, it is selling most of its experiential deals through third-party retailers or, in D.C., as events at 918 F Street. None of the current events on offer appear to involve any firearms.
