In what should have been its most exciting week — its first Super Bowl! — turned into one of the toughest weeks in Groupon's brief history.

A week after the Monday morning quarterbacking pilloried its campaign, it's fair to say the brand (and its marketing) will never be the same.Continue reading...

Grammys surprises include Esperanza Spalding (whose Wikipedia page was attacked by Justin Bieber fans) and Arcade Fire upsets, Eminem win, Lady Gaga's stage eggsit and sweep for country group Lady Antebellum. More here.

Apple is developing cheaper iPhones.

Boeing passenger jet may benefit from freighter tests.

Chili’s ramps up global growth plans, including Russia.

Chipotle holds down prices despite soaring food costs.  

Chrysler dealers aim to cash in on the Eminem Super Bowl commercial.Continue reading...

Groupon CEO Andrew Mason must cringe every time he hears the words "Super" and "Bowl" together this week. He apologized on Tuesday for the misfired humor in Sunday's campaign.

After the jump, read his second public apology for the now-revised trio of mock celebs-and-charities spots the brand commissioned from CP+B for its Super Bowl debut after the jump.Continue reading...

Nearly 1 out of every 8 minutes online is spent on Facebook as about 154 million Americans are active users.

This is one of the findings in comScore’s just-released 2010 U.S. Digital Year in Review, a recap of key trends in e-commerce, social networking, online video, search, online advertising and mobile…and Facebook as a metric unto itself.

In 2010, daily visits to Facebook grew by 69%, increasing the company’s ad potential by a whopping 71% between December 2009 and December 2010, and nearly one-third of all Internet sessions included a visit to Facebook.

Beyond Facebook, 2010 was a good year for digital media.Continue reading...

Add Pepsi to the list of Super Bowl advertisers under fire this week.

Joining Groupon, HomeAway and CareerBuilder on the hot seat, Pepsi's "Love Hurts" ad has prompted a complaint in the House of Representatives. 

Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) took to the House floor Tuesday night to criticize the ad, which features a white female getting hit in the head by a Pepsi Max can hurled by an African-American woman, as "demeaning," particularly during African-American history month.Continue reading...

Activision puts Guitar Hero in diminished role.

AOL sees advertisers weighing politics after acquisition of Huffington Post. 

Belvedere Vodka partners with Usher.

Chrysler seeks “no-haggle” experience at dealers for new Fiat 500.

Cisco shares slip on weak outlook.

Coca-Cola grabs market share from PepsiCo in North America.

Ford kicks off social-media push for Explorer.Continue reading...

Yesterday HomeAway released a revised version of its Super Bowl ad, removing much of the commercial's action involving a "test baby" to mollify offended viewers.

Today Groupon, which has already issued an apology for its cause-marketing spoof trio of Super Bowl spots, is releasing new versions of its ads that include a link at the end to savethemoney.org — its actual cause-marketing website page — and a new voice-over at the end: "Save the money at Groupon, and support the cause at .

See Groupon's revised spot starring Elizabeth Hurley above. We'll post the revised Timothy Hutton "Save Tibet/save on Tibetan food" spot and Cuba Gooding Jr.'s "Save the Whales/Save money on whalewatching" spot as they're released.Continue reading...

You've seen HomeAway's revised Super Bowl commercial.

Now here's a revision on Groupon's controversial Super Bowl campaign, as produced by Conan O'Brien for his namesake TBS late-night show.