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Groupon Kidz Club (groupon.com)
180 points by jawns on April 11, 2012 | hide | past | favorite | 46 comments



This has to be some kind of undiscovered April fools joke, or something some designer put together as a joke that went live.

However, worst kids club characters? or best!

Roll sounds totally radical. As someone who also loves homemade croissants, I can relate to this character.

Does anyone else think Glasses and e-m@le will totally have a crush thing going on?

Also, I sense a very special episode where Swarmy and Pyles learn that everyone is a little different, but it's what makes us similar that really counts.


There's a ridiculous amount of potential for episodes about a sentient swarm of bees.

How will they reconcile many humans' fear of them with their need to be loved and understood as intellectual equals?


How about the episode where a pair of bumbling bad guys try to kidnap Swarmy to produce their honey, which they then sell!

Not only does the gang need to rescue Swarmy, but they also need to teach Swarmy to trust humans again...


Not to mention the lengthy litigation following cease-and-desist letters, pursuant to the patent the Kidz Club filed on bee honey made from genetically-enhanced beez (sic).


Pyles acts as the negotiator.


Don't forget about the long-lost sibling-swarm of Africanized bees that is actually a jerk, but with a heart of gold (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/JerkWithAHeartOfG...).


I believe that was the episode where FopTop taught Glasses how to be a refined lady in order to impress e-m@le, but then in the end realized that e-m@le liked her for who she was, not who she thought he wanted her to be.

We all learned a little something that day...


Or trick people into bringing their carriers into zero zero before ganking them.


It's a joke. Read the bullet points in the "Tips to Get Involved in Your Community" section:

* "HELP elderly folks cross the first part of the street and then encourage them to get across the rest of the way on their own!"

* "DON'T desecrate that statue even though you'd gain tons of street cred!"

* "START a lemonade stand but immediately go "Out of Business" to draw attention to wealth-destroying minimum wage laws!"

Have at it, kids.


I bet it’s a joke as well, but it’s not witty enough to work as a joke, the “inside jokes” should make you feel clever and exclusive when you see them.

And I should know, I’ve been falling flat on my face trying to be clever on the Internet for years.


You don't remember this?: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burger_King_advertising#Kids_Cl...

That kid in the wheelchair? His name was Wheelz. Not kidding.


HAHA that brings back memories.

I would imagine most of the HN audience was born after those characters were popular.


looks like they hired the same artist


I think they feel clever and exclusive because of all the HN readers they tricked. You're not always on the inside of an inside joke.


Seems like it'd be obvious, but I guess not. It's very clear some 90s kids sat in a room and thought, "You know what'd be hilarious? If we did our own version of the BK Kidz Club." Probably were also on under the influence of something.


Where did you find that? I'm not seeing that content.

The song is very special, however.

[edit] nm, it was under the 'games' directory:

http://www.groupon.com/pages/kidz-club-games

That's definitely one of the better company April Fools type jokes I've seen in a while. [/edit]


It's a conscious take on the Burger King Kids Club.

https://www.google.com/search?q=burger%20king%20kids%20club&...

Compare the logo and the character design.


This looks like the BK Kids Club of the 90's. "e-m@le" even looks like Kid Vid: http://www.progressiveboink.com/mike/img/bkkidsclub/kidvid.g...


Well this is going straight to my iPod, https://groupon.s3.amazonaws.com/sponsorship-imgs/chicago/Ki...


Why wouldn't I be surprised to find out Andrew Mason had joined to record this in the studio?


Indonesian has a word for this.

Jayus - A joke so poorly told and so unfunny that one cannot help but laugh

Word three on this list - http://matadornetwork.com/abroad/20-awesomely-untranslatable...


In english that would be "it's so bad, it's good"


On the subject of kids pages, if you haven't seen the NSA's CryptoKids ( http://www.nsa.gov/kids/ ), CIA's (https://www.cia.gov/kids-page/) or the NRO's ( http://www.nro.gov/kidspages.html ) kids pages, I'd recommend a quick look.


I didn't look at the URL before clicking, so I was totally disappointed that it wasn't for National Review Online. Podhoretz for kids is just an awesome, awesome idea.


Wow, the NSA trademark everything.

> Crypto Cat®, Decipher Dog®, Rosetta Stone®, Slate®, Joules™, T.Top®, CyberTwins™ Cy and Cyndi, and, of course, our leader CSS Sam®.


I wrote about this the other day - I thought for sure it had to be a late april fools joke but once i started to get their emails I realized it was for serious. I don't get why they spend so much money on worthless content - just show the deals.

http://www.centernetworks.com/groupon-adds-kids-friendly-kid...


Don't miss out on the theme song: https://groupon.s3.amazonaws.com/sponsorship-imgs/chicago/Ki...


Spelling "kidz" with a z is a pretty good warning of how awful it's bound to be.


I'm pretty sure FOPTOP is a drunk who they found passed out on the beach


"TIPS TO GET INVOLVED IN YOUR COMMUNITY:

START a lemonade stand but immediately go "Out of Business" to draw attention to wealth-destroying minimum wage laws!"


This is great—the write-ups are hilarious!

> When Roll grows up, he wants to be an astronaut or a game show cameraman.


This is what happens when you don't pay a real artist.

Also I am totally gonna start shipping Foptop and Swarmz.


It's a joke. How? Comic Sans.


Here's some helpful tips from the Kidz Club Games and Tips Page:

> HELP elderly folks cross the first part of the street and then encourage them to get across the rest of the way on their own!

> DON'T desecrate that statue even though you'd gain tons of street cred!

> START a lemonade stand but immediately go "Out of Business" to draw attention to wealth-destroying minimum wage laws!

Whether you should copy that floppy is presumably left up to your own judgement.


Definitley a joke. Did you see this gem?

  Unscramble these mixed-up words:

  cilhd

  entcered

  mraketing
I actually found that one quite funny. :)


If there was any doubt as to whether this is a joke, listen to the theme song. Good lord.


I just talked to a friend at Groupon who helped write it. Apparently they have a "humor team" whose job it is to come up with stuff like this.


That's actually more depressing than if this were real.


I'm concerned that this isn't a joke. Or is it?


Definitely jokes.

I wasn't totally sure until I saw this: http://www.groupon.com/pages/kidz-club-games


    > Unscramble these mixed-up words:

    >    cilhd

    >    entcered

    >    mraketing


Now that was funny.


I think someone was ordered to come up with these characters as punishment for screwing up something else.


I don't think it is - Its linked at the top of http://www.groupon.com/occasions, which can be gotten to from their normal flow.

This is totally real.


I'd guess it went something like this:

Manager: "We need a kids club thing, like Burger King." Designers: "That's lame, let's make it a joke." Manager: "Excellent, go live with it."


Yay India Graphic Design!




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