Earlier this year, a proposed class action lawsuit was filed against daily deal giant Groupon alleging that the company used bait and switch advertising.
Today, a U.S. judge has said a few parts of the lawsuit can proceed to court.
The suit, brought by San Francisco-based tour operator, alleges that Groupon buys many tour-related keywords on Google's AdWords service but when you click through they rarely actually offer tour coupons. By using such bait-and-switch tactics, the cost of keywords have skyrocketed and the tour company's ads on Google have declined in prominence.
Although some of the claims were tossed, the plaintiffs can rewrite their allegations.
Says the main plaintiff (via Reuters):
The suit, brought by San Francisco-based tour operator, alleges that Groupon buys many tour-related keywords on Google's AdWords service but when you click through they rarely actually offer tour coupons. By using such bait-and-switch tactics, the cost of keywords have skyrocketed and the tour company's ads on Google have declined in prominence.
Although some of the claims were tossed, the plaintiffs can rewrite their allegations.
Says the main plaintiff (via Reuters):
We're very happy we're going to get to go forward with these claims to address what we think is classic bait and switch advertising. Only now its done through Google instead of through the newspaper.
