Those who follow the deal-of-the-day website saw the item and were quick to point out that the Banana Bunker looked like, erm...a sex toy.
Soon enough, hundreds of sexual innuendos and jokes were being posted under the item.
Groupon attempted to reply to *every single* comment.
Even today, its social media manager is still replying to comments.
Groupon said it knew the Facebook post would get a reaction and was prepared for a big response.
Speaking to Ad Week, Bill Roberts, head of global communication for Groupon, said the post led to 12,000 comments, 18,000 likes, and 43,000 shares.
"We tried our best to reply to every comment," he said. "In the end we replied to between 150 and 200."
He added: "We didn't brainstorm responses as a group – it was really more about keeping up with the volume of comments that were coming in."
Groupon ended up selling all 600 Banana Bunkers.
Roberts admitted that the Banana Bunker was "easy to confuse" with a sex toy.
"It's very easy to confuse what a Banana Bunker is on first glance, and it would be too obvious to validate that," he said. "Instead we wanted to take the innocent approach."
"Plus, our team is very passionate about the benefits of potassium."
