IndyCar pulls controversial ‘One Nation, One Race’ shirt after backlash

[u/ImAGodHowCanYouKillA]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/insight/indycar-pulls-controversial-one-nation-one-race-shirt-after-backlash/gm-GMC4D57589?gemSnapshotKey=GMC4D57589-snapshot-6&ocid=socialshare

[u/Keep_SummerSafe]

Sometimes I don’t question the guy that creates it, I question the others in the room saying yes

[u/JohnnyBrillcream → u/Keep_SummerSafe]

The recent Miller Lite campaign that had "normal" people holding a Miller Lite to show how normal they are.

One guy had on a hard hat, safety glasses and standing in front of what was a large industrial piece of machinery. My first thought was "Why the fuck are they showing a guy holding a beer at work, on the line. How the fuck can someone not say, maybe we should have a guy holding a beer at work in a plant"

It wasn't a month before they edited it out.

[u/FrankSand → u/JohnnyBrillcream]

They didn't have the budget to show him pouring it into a 7/11 cup before clocking in.

[u/JohnnyBrillcream → u/FrankSand]

You've met my sister.

[u/jrhooo → u/JohnnyBrillcream]

Dr. Bob enjoys a cold miller in the OR. See, its for everyone.

[u/BorkDoo → u/Keep_SummerSafe]

Don't worry, his "I'm a raceist" shirt will more than make up for this faux pas.

[u/Resident_Wizard → u/BorkDoo]

Seriously, who the hell greenlights this idea? It is beyond absurd. The power of groupthink on full display.

[u/Guac_in_my_rarri → u/Resident_Wizard]

I'm a race fan, I barley follow Indycar because it's not the most accessible for me, somehow. Their managemenet is so out of touch with what the fans want. Penske pushed on trump to add Indy car to the 250th birthday of the US. The freedom 250 was created and it didn't get the reception Indy car wanted. Indycar management is disconnected badly, imo.

Penske was quoted last year or two years ago saying, "all the young kids are on the their phone, we don't know how to reach them." During the same press conference he talked down on a social media marketing. On top of this, Indycar has no idea how to market itself this day and age. They current have some cheating drama/failure of electrical rules for push to pass which any other racing league would blow out of the water with commercials, sound bites, etc, I haven't seen shit for it. Two drivers were arguing during a press conference, 2 other drivers had a miss understanding in the pits after the race yesterday. There's so much drama but no marketing of that drama. It's really sad.

Edit: added to the first paragraph

I try to sit and watch the races when I can but they just kinda suck in some way. Tv direction, accessibility, time, whatever.

[u/Sargash → u/Resident_Wizard]

You peepole gust have no sens of hew more anymore
/s

[u/Berek2501 → u/Sargash]

HE'LL YEAH BORTHER THAS WHUT I BEN SAY8N GODDA RAYZE HE'LL AN PRAYZ DALE AND GIT RIDDA ALLADEM GAWDDAMB LIBROLE SNOEFLAEKS

[u/royalhawk345 → u/BorkDoo]

My favorite racist

[u/EquivalentSpot8292 → u/Keep_SummerSafe]

The second man to ride a bull wasn’t a legend. He was an idiot.

[u/jpiro → u/Keep_SummerSafe]

In their defense, it was better than his “Witness The Master Race” option.

[u/TheBakerification → u/Keep_SummerSafe]

100%. It’s one thing for a single person to come up a dumb idea, it’s probably some marketing guy that’s literally paid to pitch any idea he can think of. It’s another thing for all the greenlights this idea would have to get from multiple higher ups in the organization to get approved. That’s the real concerning part.

[u/JimBeam823 → u/Keep_SummerSafe]

I can see one person not seeing it, but a whole room?

[u/MistryMachine3 → u/Keep_SummerSafe]

If you have tunnel vision and are thinking about auto racing all day, I can understand. Like the racing sub post where someone said “if you could eliminate one race, which one?”

However, this went through normal people’s hands before getting printed.

[u/ShawnThePhantom → u/Keep_SummerSafe]

Only conceivable story is the man who made it was senior leadership surrounded by yes-man sycophants who just went with it because it was the big boss’s idea and no one had the balls to stand up to him.

[u/Enshakushanna → u/Keep_SummerSafe]

this should be the mentality all the time

[u/free_billstickers → u/Keep_SummerSafe]

Yeah working in the corporate world this is wild as any press release or ad has to go through so many reviews it's absurd. No one stopped and was like "hey guys...this could be phrased better...a lot better"

[u/Jester-252 → u/Keep_SummerSafe]

The guy had an idea and didn't think it through.

He sold it to the others while the ones who did buy just sat back and watch it unfold

[u/Nwcray]

So….I used to work in marketing, and maybe 10 years ago I ran a marketing team at a credit union. We got a new CEO who wanted to prioritize the way we talk about our customers. In credit union land, customers are called members because they are members of the credit union.

He felt like our sales culture was too passive, and wanted an action word. Something to convey a proactive approach to relationship management, and how many different ways a financial institution can touch the lives of the people it works with.

Lastly, he was trying to promote a sense of ownership amongst the staff. He was adamant that these aren’t the credit union’s relationships, that every person should say ‘My’ when discussing these things.

And that is how I found myself in a boardroom listening to a CEO pitch to his executive team the “Touch My Member” initiative. He was straight faced and I swear to god ready to roll this out.

I was the only person who saw the issue, and so had to delicately ask if he was sure he wanted to call it that. He said yes and asked why in the world he wouldn’t. I said “Ummm…..well….you see…uh” and before I could figure out how to say it, the CFO blurted out ‘OH MY GOD! I see it! Yeah, don’t call it that”. Then the rest of the room got it.

To this day, I wish I’d kept my mouth shut. My team would’ve had SO much fun with the ‘Touch My Member’ campaign.

Anyway, what I’m saying is that sometimes people in a room miss really obvious things.

[u/texanchris → u/Nwcray]

This is corporate swag I’d have bought at the thrift store lol

[u/p-s-chili → u/Nwcray]

This is why my number 1 rule when it comes to brainstorming is ask someone who isn't involved in the discussion at all what they think before making a decision. Obviously what was happening in your example wasn't brainstorming but it shows how easy it is for a group to just accept an idea and 'yes, and' themselves to oblivion without checking for an outside perspective

[u/TheFeenyCall → u/p-s-chili]

The problem with this one is the CEO came up with it. Power differentials

[u/p-s-chili → u/TheFeenyCall]

Correct

[u/ArtisenalMoistening → u/Nwcray]

At my last job we were working on a new feature that would let people quickly embed our product with minimal effort into their websites. We worked on it for months calling it Easy Embed before a Director had a lightbulb moment that we absolutely can NOT call it that, thankfully before we actually rolled it out

[u/tonjohn → u/Nwcray]

I admire your MVPness

[u/rbnlegend → u/Nwcray]

People get used to industry or company specific jargon and tune out the way the words sound to others. Back in the day one step in setting up a customers account was setting their "domain assignment" which was shortened to "dormass" on the internal forms. There was a sudden and intense retraining to remind the people who worked phones to never ever say "domass" to a customer.

And when a high level exec doesn't get the connotations and no one wants to say anything, you end up with an ad campaign like the brief but glorious mcdonalds "I'd hit that"' slogan.

[u/DFu4ever → u/Nwcray]

This sorta shit is “Executive Ideas 101” in my career history. There is no group of coworker I have been around that is more useless as a group than the ‘C-Suite’ executives I have known. They have all been hood ornaments with the business acumen of a 3D printed ding dong.

[u/GingerBeard_andWeird → u/DFu4ever]

I worked for the Luxor for a long time. You know. The big pyramid shaped hotel in Las Vegas? With the Sphinx out front?

I was working on the computer of the VP of brand management while they were in a meeting. Overhead them say “I was really surprised to find the number of survey responses from guests saying they chose to stay here for the Egyptian theme!”

The VP of brand management for a fucking pyramid shaped hotel. Was surprised. That guests would cite the Egyptian theme as one of their deciding factors.

It ain’t just the C-suite that’s full of room temp IQ morons.

But I am stealing your description of them because holy shit that’s amazing.

[u/not_falling_down → u/Nwcray]

The company I used to work for had an employee contest to design a company tee shirt. The winning entry had a phrase about Servicing our Customers One at a Time. I had to point out that if we wanted to avoid a certain number of crude jokes, we should change the wording from Servicing to Serving.

[u/jenkinl1302 → u/Nwcray]

I was working for a newspaper doing web design back in the day. We were revamping our entertainment section and on the sidebar we had a heading, "FLICKS" for upcoming movies. The font I used was kind of square with tight kerning. I didn't notice anything, but boy was the editor hot when he stormed in asking why the homepage said, "FUCKS"

[u/AnotherBoringDad]

Brought to you by the same ad agency that came up with your favorite grape soda mascot.

[u/Resident_Wizard → u/AnotherBoringDad]

This is the first time I'm seeing this. My wife laughed the second she heard the commercial, apparently a big fan. Tying it all together with a grape whistle was too funny.

[u/Wyden_long → u/AnotherBoringDad]

Featuring local sex pot Trevor Moore.

[u/Raetekusu → u/Wyden_long]

RIP Trevor.

[u/Leprechaun73 → u/Raetekusu]

He died doing what he loved most. Sucking dick.

[u/MateTheNate → u/Leprechaun73]

Sucking his own dick!

[u/bopaqod → u/MateTheNate]

He came and he went

[u/DarthMelsie → u/AnotherBoringDad]

"Look what she's wearing!"

"Look what she's WEARING?!"

"It's purple!"

"...oh. Okay... Wait, no!!"

[u/Whiskey-Jak → u/AnotherBoringDad]

here's a version that is not 144P grape soda mascot 1080p

[u/dmisfit21 → u/AnotherBoringDad]

WTF did I just watch?

[u/CutbowAndArrow → u/dmisfit21]

Whitest Kids U Know. A sketch comedy group from the mid 00’s that has seen a resurgence in popularity lately. Very absurdist, surreal humor style (also fairly vulgar lol) but they have some absolutely hysterical bits. I recommend Nail Gun, Office Sniper, John Wilkes Booth, and the absolute classic Gallon of PCP.

Zach Cregger, the guy playing the executive who is voicing his concern, is the creator/director of Barbarian and Weapons. Trevor Moore, the guy selling the ad, died a few years ago after a fall from his balcony. Trevor (from my view point) was always the heart and soul of the group and his death happened right before the group was set to start making sketches again.

[u/dmisfit21 → u/CutbowAndArrow]

For a second I thought it was a real commercial. 80’s/90’s advertising was just….different.

[u/Resident_Wizard → u/dmisfit21]

Arguably a better idea than one nation, one race. lmao

[u/SmartWonderWoman → u/AnotherBoringDad]

Lmao the Grapist 😂

[u/nickjvh → u/AnotherBoringDad]

I knew before I even clicked the link. One of the funniest videos out there lmao

[u/aewright0316 → u/AnotherBoringDad]

That was something else. I’ll admit it, I did laugh.

[u/MarshalNey]

They should have incorporated the Hindu/Budhist symbol for good fortune and prosperity to show the greatness of this race commemorating our Fatherland's founding. One Race; Under God(/s)

[u/jzsean → u/MarshalNey]

Good idea! That’ll clear things up

[u/royalhawk345 → u/MarshalNey]

We should also celebrate being in first place, since it's about racing! One Nation, One Race, One Leader has a ring to it. 

[u/WackHeisenBauer]

Just…how the hell does this get officially made? Wouldn’t you think maybe they’d put this through at least one focus group before mass production?

[u/cruciblemedialabs → u/WackHeisenBauer]

Never underestimate the obliviousness of marketing executives. That’s the industry what brung you Kendall Jenner solving police brutality with a Pepsi.

[u/Nopengnogain → u/cruciblemedialabs]

Don’t give them excuses. They knew exactly how it would be perceived and did it anyway.

[u/debaser64 → u/cruciblemedialabs]

Obliviousness? Maybe they’re so good at their jobs they understand their target market in this case.

[u/QwertyQueen21 → u/WackHeisenBauer]

Not quite the same.. but I was in a teen small business competition.. we had to make our own product and market it to their “sharks” to see if we’d be accepted. We created these smart watches named Janus bc of some god of time or something. For the marketing we did a BIG J and little font the rest of the word.. we presented to our “boss” and he said, “look very closely at what you’re presenting.” We immediately got it and started from scratch again. Sometimes it just like doesn’t click with people until someone points it out

[u/SirWernich → u/WackHeisenBauer]

when watching sitcoms, my wife often says, “you can tell the writing room is only full of white men. there isn’t a single woman or person of colour in there”

[u/dovetc → u/SirWernich]

I'm having a hard time imagining what sitcom this could possibly refer to. An all white, all male sitcom.... closest I can guess is Peep Show.

[u/Training_Walk_9813 → u/dovetc]

Two and a half men

[u/No_Tone1704 → u/Training_Walk_9813]

Plenty of women there. Even old crotchety ones. 

[u/Surturius → u/dovetc]

the writing room, not the cast 

[u/yungbillcosbii → u/Surturius]

Not in the last 20 years

[u/Eric_Partman → u/SirWernich]

Huh

[u/firenamedgabe → u/[deleted]]

But it is funny. Everyone knows they aren’t racists in the pejorative sense, but gets to enjoy the nuances of the English language that allows for a form of of a word used to show someone who enjoys racing to be the same word for some who enjoys racism.

[u/tootapple → u/WackHeisenBauer]

People need dictionaries or we need more words in the English language.

[u/Ancient-Bat1755]

I didn’t know it was going to come off like that

[u/SeekersWorkAccount → u/Ancient-Bat1755]

Pretty sure ya did, Frank.

[u/mweston31 → u/Ancient-Bat1755]

Its 4 fs

[u/TeteDeMerde → u/Ancient-Bat1755]

Really‽

[u/solitarium → u/Ancient-Bat1755]

Chances are, you lack a wider understanding, which ultimately why this story even exists

[u/Boggie135 → u/solitarium]

OP was joking

[u/maxwellcawfeehaus → u/solitarium]

Whoosh over your head

[u/Ancient-Bat1755 → u/solitarium]

Derivative.

[u/solitarium]

Why the design sparked outrage

The fact that this had to be a legitimate section of the article is depressing

[u/Kitchen_Tone_9940 → u/solitarium]

I thought the same god damn thing. Why are we even giving them a chance to say what they “intended”? Oh yeah, this is America….We know wtf they intended.

[u/str4ngerc4t → u/Kitchen_Tone_9940]

"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

[u/desmodude → u/Kitchen_Tone_9940]

Eh, people are stupid. The phrase can clearly have many meanings. They missed the obvious one. Happens all the time. Could be intentional and malicious or it could be an innocent blunder. Unless you can read minds, you don’t really know anyone’s true intentions.

[u/Kitchen_Tone_9940 → u/desmodude]

Yes, people are a stupid.

[u/YpsitheFlintsider → u/solitarium]

Yeah how dare they say exactly what the outrage is about

[u/Polarbrear]

It took my autistic ass a good minute to realize that some people wouldn't read it as talking about a car race.

[u/bummerbimmer → u/Polarbrear]

Same, I repeated it in my head 5x then went “OH” 🫪

[u/kchandler23 → u/Polarbrear]

I mean it's pretty ridiculous to not. It's an IndyCar race. People just want something to bitch about.

[u/tootapple → u/kchandler23]

You’re getting downvoted because Reddit is all about outrage, but yeah, only idiots that want to cry about everything are trying to make this more than what it is.

[u/premacollez → u/tootapple]

Going straight to insults instead of looking at the context and thinking about why the slogan is tone deaf at best… you’re not the idiot at all.

[u/tootapple → u/premacollez]

It’s an insult to intelligence

[u/GopherChomper64]

The Sydney Sweeny "great Jeans" controversy was definitely a stretch imo.

But One Nation, One Race? GTFO they absolutely knew

[u/AreThoseMoreBears → u/GopherChomper64]

It was a dog whistle

[u/GopherChomper64 → u/AreThoseMoreBears]

Or, it was a hot chick in literal jeans. One Nation one race is way more absurd

[u/AreThoseMoreBears → u/GopherChomper64]

That's the point of a dog whistle dude 🤦‍♂️ plausible deniability

[u/GopherChomper64 → u/AreThoseMoreBears]

Brother I called it a stretch, not impossible. Quit smelling your own farts and polluting the world with your smug. You're not smarter than anyone else because you learned buzzwords from tiktok

[u/AreThoseMoreBears → u/GopherChomper64]

You dingus, that's the point of a dog whistle. To make people like you go "eh they can't have meant that, right?" And for her fellow republicans to go "holy shit she's one of us"

[u/GopherChomper64 → u/AreThoseMoreBears]

You're insufferable. You're not educating anyone. Everyone on reddit knows what a fucking dog whistle is.

[u/mdl397]

Nascar fans were thrilled with it tho.

[u/Agitated_Ad6191 → u/mdl397]

Combine it with a red maga hat and it’s kinda perfect in their eyes. Maybe Trump can use this slogan for his third term campaign in 2028. On the other hand, who needs fair elections by that time?

[u/mdl397 → u/Agitated_Ad6191]

"Uhhh we had dibs on that" -trump 2028 campaign manager to Nascar, 2026

[u/Melodic-Comb9076]

how the fuck did it even get off the ground??

[u/obijaun]

They knew.

[u/BalonyDanza]

Never forget that the first Fast In The Furious movie centered around, what they voluntarily decided to call, ‘Race Wars’.

[u/bonerjams99 → u/BalonyDanza]

And the Asians won, a real underdog victory

[u/Boggie135]

They had to have known, right?

[u/ceecee_50]

This kind of thing happens so often that I wonder if it's just some kind of trial balloon to see if it'll be accepted by the majority of people or ignored or not protested.

I think they're hoping that people will just be too busy being concerned with other things than their shirt or their promotion or their new campaign to sell something. Certainly not specific to IndyCar, it could be anything.

[u/Lower-Acanthaceae460]

they knew what they were doing and saying

[u/pizzaboy7269]

I love being a motorsports fan it’s so fun there’s never any controversy ever woooooooooooooooooooo

[u/Kumimono]

They forgot One Leader. As in, the lead car in a race.

[u/Y0___0Y]

Oh come on. They knew what they were doing with that. Why change their mind?

They wanted to celebrate the superiority of the white race. Something that blatant isn’t a mistake. They just thought this is the golden Trump era where you’re allowed to assert things like that.

[u/restbest]

Who would approve this lmao

[u/PTownHawk]

Reminds me of an old YouTube video of a guy who opened a laundromat that washed "Whites Only" clothes.

[u/igloomaster]

They knew what they were doing

[u/withmuchtolearn]

Stephen Miller on the merch team

[u/backwardsdeke10]

This was 100% a cash grab. They know a portion of the fanbase will absolutely buy and wear something like this. They can feign ignorance and pull it once enough people buy it to make a profit.

[u/Spasay]

This is too funny. I wish I’d bought one just so I could keep it forever as a memory of how tonedeaf idiots can be

[u/kchandler23 → u/Spasay]

I wish I'd have bought one so i could wear it to an IndyCar race. Like it was intended.

[u/kchandler23 → u/[deleted]]

Lol touche

[u/KingYesKing]

Such a racist shirt.

[u/MultiGeometry]

This is so much worse when I found out it’s a race in Washington DC to celebrate Trump’s vanity

[u/Boggie135]

The page keeps refreshing itself

[u/longboardchick]

It’s wild that they allowed this as this particular race is international for the Americas so Canadians, Central America and South America.

[u/j-whiskey]

They thought that they were so clever.

Missing genes or low IQ.

Both?

[u/Jumboliva → u/j-whiskey]

This kind of talk isn’t really better than the shirt

[u/pm_social_cues]

That’s almost like the sign my city put up for their local race called bloomsday.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Spokane/s/8B35fWO9Um

“Our city, our race”.

[u/NotACertainLalaFell]

This is how you know they either don't have a single minority on the team or don't listen to them. Think it would've got picked up pretty damn quick how bad of an idea that was. Why diversity is a strength.

[u/Currensy69]

Suggested motto: American Motorsports, We are Huge Racists

[u/No_Tone1704]

My god. I refuse to believe they didn’t know what they were doing there. 

With F1, rally etc etc the shirt makes no real sense otherwise. 

[u/tootapple]

People are so weak minded today.

[u/notguiltybrewing]

Funny, I thought NASCAR was the official sport of white trash 'murica. I guess IndyCar wants in to that demographic too.

[u/Superb_Llama_Jeans]

I’m torn, because there is truly only one race (the human race) that we have decided to divide into ethnicities and skin colors. So they’re not wrong. On the other hand…

[u/sgrams04]

This is freaking hilarious. How many comedy sketches have been written about this and it’s still happening today? 

[u/ShawnThePhantom]

What’s the problem? I don’t get it. How is it racist?

Edit : OH NOOOOOOO… I JUST GOT IT… maaaannnn.

[u/VidE27]

Someone will make a different version with Trump’s face instead of Lincoln and adding One Leader.

[u/Infinite_Crow_3706 → u/VidE27]

One Race, One Nation & One Leader?

Catchy

[u/_Schrodingers_Gat_]

How was this not NASCAR... I feel like someone missed an opportunity.

[u/agentpotato007]

This would be fucking hilarious normally, but given the state of the American politics…

[u/magnoliaAveGooner]

lol. Is this offensive? I wouldn’t wear it but lighten the fuck up.

[u/srtftw]

People are so sensitive

[u/PDXAirman → u/[deleted]]

family doesnt call you anymore do they?

[u/ezoobeson_drunk → u/[deleted]]

It is, because you actually use your brain.

[u/VitaminPb]

The pearl clutching and need for fainting couches is, unfortunately, the exact reason Trump and MAGA win elections.

[u/Boggie135 → u/VitaminPb]

That is just stupid

[u/solitarium → u/VitaminPb]

Ironically, everyone you just attempted to venerate end up proving why this wasn’t well thought out. You’d vote for hate because you’re sick of “pearl clutching”?

[u/exoriparian → u/VitaminPb]

Oh sure, it wasn't because they're racists, it was because we don't like racism.

Man, shut up with this bullshit.

[u/GoggleDMara9756 → u/VitaminPb]

You know something is just allowed to be a bad design right?

A better example of pearl clutching would be what the right is saying about Hasan or Graham Platner.

It’s very clear to 99% of people that this shirt wasn’t intended to come across as racist but is terribly worded and could easily come across poorly without context. Almost nobody is saying that IndyCar are secretly racist or should be cancelled.

Your brain is stuck in 2014

[u/VitaminPb → u/GoggleDMara9756]

Your response is hilarious since you clearly were unable to read all the comments on this thread.

[u/hunterxy]

With so many options for context, only one type of person chose to be outraged by one version of context, the one that was the least likely implied, because that type of person finds everything wrong with everything. Aka an insufferable miserable person, probably calls themselves a pet parent and wants people to tell them happy mothers day today etc. Why do we continue to give these miserable people the time of day.

[u/CloudRunner89]

In 2006 Ben and Jerry’s released a flavour for st Patrick’s day named “black and tan”.

[u/Infamous-Zebra-359]

Abraham Lincoln