Sometimes even organizations that should know better work hard to create unneeded PR crises for themselves and their supporters.
Case in point: NASCAR, which has just turned its back on a major portion of its fan base – and in the process, shooting itself in the foot (after first inserting that foot in its mouth).
Here’s the story. NASCAR, which for decades has entertained tens of millions of grass-roots flyover-country middle Americans – the kind Obama once accused of bitterly clinging to their guns and bibles – has become rich beyond the wildest trips of fantasy by attending to their core group audience. However, political correctness has now reared its ugly head, threatening to undo all the success they’ve worked so hard to obtain.
Full Disclosure: I live barely a half-dozen miles from the massive NASCAR facility in Las Vegas (and I used to work right across the street from the Nashville NASCAR track at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds). However, the one time I actually attended a NASCAR event (way back in Nashville), I actually fell asleep during the race. I felt pounded into insensibility by the unimaginable noise, even while I was bored out of my mind by the repetition of a swarm of cars circling a half-mile oval 1,000 time (or something like that).
In short, I’m not a personal NASCAR fan. Still, I have always respected NASCAR as an organization – and have recommended to a number of clients over the years that THEY should publicly support NASCAR, since it reaches a large and fanatically-loyal fan base as a positive means of reaching a large and economically-significant demographic of patriotic Americans who “have the need for speed.”
That always seemed like a good strategy.
Until now.
NASCAR has just adopted new anti-gun policy – exemplified by their banning of ads just because those ads feature images of legal firearms, which I read about on the Daily Wire website.
Banning gun ads – and by extension, supporting those who do advocate for gun bans – is a poorly thought-out move, one likely to alienate a huge percentage of their core audience. Just as the NFL suffered a ratings drop after players began “taking a knee” during the National Anthem, this move will only exacerbate NASCAR’s recent ratings drop.
Forbes characterized this precipitous fan-drop by saying, “It appears, however, that fans are now deserting it in droves,” noting that seats are being removed so the optics don’t show them empty, with the Richmond track attracting 42,500 attendees in a stadium that holds 50,000 – “but there used to be 112,000 at Richmond, which were filled for 33 Cup races in a row through 2008.” Where once they sold out 112,000 seats, they now can’t sell out even half that total.
In addition, Forbes also reported a precipitous television viewership drop for the famous Talladega race in 2018, down from two years before. The race’s TV audience was down 30 percent from just two years before, from 6.7 million viewers to 4.7 million viewers. Ratings were also down, from a 4.0 rating to a 2.85 rating. This is huge, and NASCAR’s latest action is going to make this even worse.
Let’s run the numbers to see how much damage this new politically correct anti-gun position is likely to cause NASCAR. For starters, earlier this year, Gallup reported: “Thirty percent of U.S. adults say they personally own a gun, while a larger percentage, 43%, report living in a gun household. Republicans (45%), men (43%) and self-identified conservatives (40%) are the most likely key subgroups to say they personally own a gun.
“Women (17%), Democrats (16%) and Hispanics (15%) are the least likely to report personal gun ownership.”
Compare that to NASCAR’s prime demographic: 75 million fans, broken down by: 63% male, 94% white, median household income $100,000.
Other relevant demographic specifics include:
* 1 in 5 NASCAR fans is likely to support gun laws that are more lenient compared to the rest of the general US population.
* 1 in 4 NASCAR fans say that their religious beliefs are very important to them.
* NASCAR fans are 50% more likely to be registered Republicans than Democrats.
Clearly, this bold anti-gun stand is going to hurt NASCAR. So what’s next? Drivers taking a knee during the national anthem?
NASCAR used to stand with its fans for conservative, pro-American values. Now, apparently, they’ve caved in to those on the far left who want to ban or sharply limit personal gun ownership. Which makes me wonder what demographic they’re trying to reach and support.
If I could send a message to NASCAR (BTW – in another bold move to alienate their audience, their website offers no way of doing that), I’d say, “Boy, you guys really know how to shoot yourself in the foot.”
As a PR Branding case study in what not to do, you’d have to look long and hard to find a bigger dupe than NASCAR.
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