Coca Cola Better Be Happy Their PR Stunt Worked
Tuesday, May 23rd, 2006 11:32pm CDT
By Luke, Thunder Lounge
Published on Thunder Lounge.
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In follow-up to our article two week’s ago, “Vote Kyle, Reward Victory Junction Campaign Kicks Off Tomorrow“, Coca-Cola’s PR stunt worked. However, we’re still pretty ticked at the concept of it. In the end, we’re happy the kid’s didn’t lose out, but they easily could have.
First and foremost, we love the Victory Junction Gang and the Petty’s. We have absolutely nothing but the highest respect for them and their accomplishments with the camp, and it’s an incredible ordeal. However, who we are ticked at is the sponsorship side of it, how they played the sympathy card and made an absolute mockery of the entire concept of voting in a driver to the All-Star race.
Coca-Cola, I hope you’re happy with yourself. You made an absolute mockery of the entire voting process, and jeopardized the reason that the Victory Junction Gang exists. The kids. That’s who is important here and you, along with your other cronies, better be happy that this damned stunt worked. Yes, it was a stunt. Coke or the other sponsor’s didn’t need the publicity, or the good tidings. They could have done that in a different light, and gained much more.
In case you missed this whole fiasco, here’s the basic’s of it.
Coke, dragging along the other sponsor’s, made it plain and clear. Vote Kyle Petty into the All-Star race, and we’ll donate money to the Victory Junction Gang.
It wasn’t, vote Kyle in and we’ll donate additional money.
So, had fan’s actually voted as they intended prior to this stunt, the kid’s who attend the camp would have been left out in the dark in terms of the sponsor’s contributions.
A much more tactful way to approach this would have been to say:
- We’re going to donate X amount of money to Victory Junction.
- For each spot Kyle finishes in front of his starting position in the “Open”, we’ll donate an additional X amount of dollars.
- IF Kyle makes it into the All-Star race, we’ll donate an additional X amount of dollars.
- For each spot Kyle finishes in front of his starting position in the All-star race, we’ll donate an additional X amount of dollars.
- Finally, if Kyle wins the All-Star race, we’ll also match his winnings on top of it.
That would have been the respectable thing to do. This way, at least the kid’s wouldn’t have run the risk of losing out.
I’m glad I don’t personally purchase their products. I’m a Pepsi guy myself, always have been. In the few cases where a Pepsi product wasn’t available, I’d deal with it. However, I’ll switch to tea or water. If those are bottled Coke products, I’ll take coffee. Last I heard, Coke hadn’t ruined that drink yet.
Not like my little Coke strike makes a difference to them, but it’s more of a matter of personal preference and and knowing within myself that I’m not personally helping them put their own PR goals in front of kid’s who really need the help.
To all of those who voted for Kyle, according to B. Duane Cross in this week’s Cross’ Words, you cost Coca-Cola $2.45 with your vote for Kyle. It’s nice to know I’m not the only one that was ticked off by the move.
The question at hand, is what does this mean? It means a new precedence has been set in the voting of driver’s into the All-Star race.
Look at it this way, using the Chase as an example. A few “smart” teams used the inaugural chase as a test for 2005. Last year, a lot more teams hopped on that bandwagon. The results are evident this year, and now the precedence is set. If you’re not in the chase, use the time to build and work on next season.
This could very well be the opening of a can of worms that would not only taint the results, but be very disheartening to a lot of kids out there when the driver isn’t voted in. Granted, this is merely a theory at this point, as I can’t honestly believe that a company would want to follow in these footsteps.
Keep an eye out on this one. It could very well be a sign of things to come, and the only true winner is the sponsor. The losers in this case are the one’s the charities are helping.
If you have to, take a lesson from the real Kurt Busch. Not the “hated driver”, but the real person behind the facade. He personally is one of the biggest contributor’s to the Victory Junction Camp, and has been the camp’s most frequent visitor. Don’t believe it? He donated $1 million dollars last Friday, something that isn’t new to him. He’s also been deeply involved with charitable organizations since he was racing late models in Vegas. Think he minds actually doing community service in the Phoenix area? Nope, guess again. The law just beat him to the punch, as given his past history he’d have done it anyway when his schedule allowed.
Want to read a better scoop? Check out Rea White’s article on Kurt over at SceneDaily.
Coke, take a lesson from this guy. He puts the kids first.
Filed Under: Damn Good Points, Nascar, Nextel Cup, The Soapbox, Thunder Lounge
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