Turning Left: NASCAR Bans Firearm Ads, Cites ‘Gradual Shift’ on Guns
OutdoorHub Reporters 08.29.19
Sorry NASCAR fans, but this is about to rev your engines. Reports coming to light recently indicate some advertisers are having their ads rejected by NASCAR due to their gun-related material.
K-Var, a company known as a “premier supplier of high quality products for the outdoor and shooting sports industries,” recently reported in a blog post how their ad was shot down (pun totally intended) by NASCAR due to a “gradual shift” in their stance on guns.
From K-Var’s post:
“In March and April 2019, several firearms retailers and manufacturers were contacted by National Event Publications, Official media sales agent for the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, NASCAR, PGA, NHRA, & USA Today Lifestyle. The pitch was to buy advertising in the official program for the last 26 races of the season. K-Var opted to advertise, as did at least 16 other manufacturers or retailers including CZ-USA, Beretta, Daniel Defense, and others. The deadline to have our artwork submitted for approval was April 19, 2019.
Then, on August 19, 2019 (four months later) we were contacted by National Event Publications with the following message.
“We just heard from NASCAR on a number of gun related ads and unfortunately, due to a gradual shift in NASCAR’s position on guns, these ads must be edited/changed – especially those that are depicted as assault-style rifles/sniper rifles. NASCAR is still open to some of the less controversial gun accessories, concealed carry, or classes.'”
K-Var wasn’t the only firearm company to be banned either.
The AR-15 manufacturer Dark Storm Industries made the following post on Instagram to inform their customers that NASCAR had rejected their ad. They even went a little further in the post, calling out NASCAR for their “gradual shift” on guns.
Here’s what they wrote on Instagram:
“NASCAR decided to turn their back on their customer base, joining the likes of Yeti, Dick’s and Under Armour. We were approached by a NASCAR publication eager to earn our business, but after submitting our ad it was immediately rejected, stating that we cannot depict ‘assault weapons’… whatever those are. We resubmitted the ad after adding a large ‘CENSORED’ bar over the rifle, with a tag reading ‘This publication rejected our ad.’ This too was rejected by NASCAR. They said they did not like that we called them out. We resubmitted a third time, with a tag line reading ‘Visit www.Dark-Storm.com to find out why!’ This was again rejected. They did not like the words ‘FIND OUT WHY.’
As we have learned, NASCAR has made a ‘gradual shift’ but this doesn’t seem very gradual to us. It seems as though NASCAR has turned their back on the overwhelming majority of their fan base in the most embarrassing way possible. #nascar”
