Well,
here we go again.
In
the last few days, there have been a handful of announcements from various sponsors
promising that if their driver gets voted into Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint
All Star Race, they will make a generous contribution to the charity of their
choice.
At
first glance, there’s not much to dislike about that. NASCAR fans get to vote
for their favorite driver, while also doing something nice for a needy group, organization
or cause. Bubbling just beneath the surface, however, lies the disturbing
truth.
Read
carefully and you’ll see that the charitable contribution is made only after “Driver A” is voted into the NASCAR Sprint All
Star Race, providing his/her sponsor with tens of thousands of dollars in free
publicity and television airtime.
That’s
not charity, my friends. That’s self-enrichment.
Sadly, this
whole "Vote for me and I’ll do something nice” idea is nothing new. Sponsors have now been attempting to bolster their driver’s All Star chances in
this manner for more than a decade. It’s gotten to the point where drivers now
admit – off the record, of course – that a charity based, feel-good campaign is
now necessary, if they truly hope to prevail in the annual All Star Fan Vote.
I
pray that’s not true. But I fear they may be right.
Should
NASCAR’s All-Star selection process really be based upon how much money someone
donates to charity? Or should that selection depend simply on a driver’s popularity
with the fans, and his/her performance on the race track?
The answer, I think, is pretty obvious.
No matter how they attempt to spin it, the truth is that sponsors who dangle the charity carrot in front of fans do so primarily for their own gain. They attempt to portray themselves as charitable, magnanimous and giving, while enriching mainly themselves.
The answer, I think, is pretty obvious.
No matter how they attempt to spin it, the truth is that sponsors who dangle the charity carrot in front of fans do so primarily for their own gain. They attempt to portray themselves as charitable, magnanimous and giving, while enriching mainly themselves.
That’s
coercion at best, pure bribery at the worst. And it’s not what the NASCAR Sprint
All-Star Race is supposed to be about.
If
sponsors are really serious about doing something good for charity -- with no
regard for their own corporate gain -- they can make a donation right now, with
no strings attached. Instead, they choose to twist the collective arm of NASCAR
Nation by saying, “Give us what we want, and we’ll help out the sick little
children.”
That’s unconscionable, in my opinion.
That’s unconscionable, in my opinion.
All
this week, you can vote for your favorite driver at NASCAR.com. You can also go
online and make a contribution to your favorite charity. I encourage you to do
both.
Just
don’t confuse the two.
Great article, on the money.
ReplyDeleteSpot on Dave....thank you for calling a spade a spade, and for not confusing the difference.
ReplyDeleteAny chance they get for the best publicity. Your right on with only benefiting themselves not the charity.
ReplyDeleteThank you. Thank you. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI'd go even farther. Dangling the charity or not, I think it is in poor taste to ask the fans to vote for their driver. It is about popularity, and asking for votes in a popularity contest is gauche.
ReplyDeleteThat's spot on, Dave.
ReplyDeleteExcellent point. Worse, the whole concept of voting a driver into the allstar race based solely on popularity cheapens the whole event. As an analogy, if the NFL did this then Tim Tebow would have made the Probowl.
ReplyDeleteIf there is to be a fan vote then there should be some minimum requirement for those on the ballot, like; a second place finish in the previous or current year (with the idea that the driver just missed qualifying, or maybe even a past championship or anyone with 10+ career Sprint Cup wins. Something other than popularity.
I remember a few years ago (2005 or 2006) when Kerry Earnhardt was running some races in the Cup series and he was on the ballot. He would have won the fan vote but he wrecked in the first race and therefore was not eligible. The thing was that he had only ran 3 races the previous year. So the fan vote rewards popularity not performance if you don't limit those eligible to be voted on based on some quantifiable performance basis.
BTW, if anyone gives me a million dollars I will donate $500,000 to charity.
The first one that I remember was when Kyle Petty was voted in after Adam died. That was a special one. But every one after that has been pretty tasteless. I think NASCAR needs to put a stop to it. Think about it. "Company A" promises to feed a million children if driver Jim gets voted into the race..... the flip side is the same company won't bother to feed those children if Jim misses the race. Not sure I'd deal with Company A after a decision like that.
ReplyDeleteI suspect that the same type of situation may be with the troops getting free tickets.
ReplyDeleteSince attendance has been down this has become a regular deal. Nothing does me more good to see our service personnel honored but I wonder if the promoters are taking a tax break for face value of their "donations".