How many times have we told companies and sports franchises that if they get woke they’re going to go broke?
We’ve said it countless times, yet they never listen, and the outcome is always the same.
But what happens is that these out-of-touch marketing and PR people that work for these companies always read the “room” wrong.
I know how this works, my background is in marketing and PR, and if you don’t know who your audience is and how to read them, you will lose them. They will turn on you so fast it’ll make your head spin, and that’s what’s happening right now with sports leagues.
After the George Floyd killing, people were shocked and appalled. I was one of them. The thought of someone kneeling on another human being’s neck is really stomach-turning to me.
But, I, like most Americans, believe in our justice system. There’s a process that people have to go through and that needs to play out.
Also, there are a lot of horrible things that happen to a lot of people, and we can’t lose our heads and go overboard, we need to be calm and collected and not turn the situation into a political sideshow.
But that’s not what happened, everyone went haywire and the PR and marketing people working for these sports leagues confused progressive elites and how they think and feel with how average middle-class Americans think and feel.
Huge and very costly mistake to make.
Nascar is on life support – the latest New Hampshire race had the lowest ratings since 1998.
NASCAR ratings took a hit on the fullest sports weekend since March.
NASCAR Cup Series racing from New Hampshire averaged a 1.4 rating and 2.21 million viewers on NBCSN Sunday, marking the lowest rated edition of the race since at least 1998 and the least-watched since at least 2000.
Brad Keselowski’s win declined 18% in ratings and 21% in viewership from last year (1.7, 2.79M) and a tick and 11% respectively from 2018 (1.5, 2.50M). As recently as five years ago, the race had a comparably strong 2.4 and 3.67 million.
So, organizations like NASCAR overreacted to a “noose” that wasn’t a noose and put on a stomach-turning show for an arrogant jerk that just wrecked of phony pandering.
They abandoned their base of fans and sided with the elites, and now they’re paying the price.
And the only way that NASCAR can come back from this, is if the league issues a sincere apology to their fans, saying how sorry they are for making a political mockery of the sport that they love.
Next, Bubba Wallace has to make the same heartfelt apology, and then he should fade into the background, and his name should only be mentioned when absolutely necessary.
This piece was written by Missy Crane on August 5, 2020. It originally appeared in WayneDupree.com and is used by permission.
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