Why does Groupon think the Earth is 400 years old?

Things are really not going well for Groupon right now. As we recently reported, Groupon issued a public statement from its accounts to the effect that the company has ‘material’ weakness in its financial controls, following a wave of negative press.

TNW, mostly, or completely under the pen of Alex Wilhem, has been critical about the company. He’s been joined by the voices around the tech writing community, expressing either alarm, or at least worry about how the company is operating.

Today, Groupon reached an entirely new level of what is apparently, baffling stupidity. This morning, Groupon sent an email to its users saying: “This year, the Earth is turning the big 4-0-0, and Groupon is committed to helping the planet reach its 401st birthday by offering green deals and supporting environmental campaigns through Groupon Grassroots and CrowdRise, co-founded by Edward Norton.”

Wait…What?

We knew that Groupon was having trouble with math, but we’re just as confused as the cupcake-carrying Earth looks in the screenshot above.

According to Wikipedia, Earth Day is celebrated on April 22nd, and has been recognized as an official holiday since 1970, which is not 400 years ago. Wikipedia also puts scientists’ estimates of the actual Earth at 4.54 billion years old, which is also not 400 years ago. So, where did Groupon come up with this number?

In a recent tweet, Groupon replied, “We got our facts from NASA, Apollo 16 sang “How Old Are You Now” and Earth responded with 360″. Riiiiight.

Someone with a sense of humor decided to edit the year 1612 to reflect the Earth’s birth on April 18 — according to Groupon…

My friend Amy Vernon won’t stand for this shit so she took Groupon on like Donkey Kong on Twitter. Here’s what the “bunch of morons” had to say to her:

At what point should a company swallow its pride and get on with it? And in all seriousness, why does Groupon think the Earth is 400 years old? And will someone please notify Edward Norton’s public relations team?

Elenaphotos21 via shutterstock