IndyCar’s “One Nation, One Race” Shirt Was a PR Disaster Waiting to Happen
Key takeaways
- Indy Car pulled an officially licensed shirt after fans blasted its glaringly offensive slogan.
- On the penultimate weekend of August, the streets around the National Mall will close for an event celebrating the 250th anniversary of America’s founding.
- The shirt (archived here) read: “One Nation, One Race.” That no one in the approval chain stopped to consider how that slogan can be interpreted is staggering enough.
Why this matters: an automotive development that could shape industry direction or buying decisions.
Indy Car pulled an officially licensed shirt after fans blasted its glaringly offensive slogan.
On the penultimate weekend of August, the streets around the National Mall will close for an event celebrating the 250th anniversary of America’s founding. The Freedom 250 Grand Prix will send race cars screaming down Pennsylvania Avenue, past the Smithsonian, and around the National Archives. To mark the occasion, Indy Car also managed to approve a T-shirt with messaging so obviously disastrous that it is hard to understand how it made it through even the most basic review.
The shirt (archived here) read: “One Nation, One Race.” That no one in the approval chain stopped to consider how that slogan can be interpreted is staggering enough. That it was officially licensed by IndyCar makes it worse. One can assume this was not a one-person mistake and was instead signed off on by multiple people, making this an organizational failure.