Devastation. Heartache. Shock. Profound grief.
The crash that ended Dale Earnhardt's life during Sunday's Daytona 500 has the racing world experiencing various degrees of emotions. As fans, friends and family members deal with The Intimidator's death, advertisers attempt to move forward in a sensitive and unique situation.
After hearing of Earnhardt's death, the last thing people could stomach was a block of commercials featuring Dale and his car. Not to mention airing racing commercials hours after a driver loses his life is simply in poor taste.
But that's what happened during Fox's Victory Lane show. The program aired at 9 p.m. Eastern Sunday night. While the show was a pre-scheduled wrap up of the Daytona 500, the day's highlights focused on Earnhardt's death.
Everyone was scrambling to get coverage, reaction and even guests. Maybe that's why the most obvious detail was overlooked.
During the first two breaks, race commercial after race commercial aired. Some even featuring Earnhardt.
By the third commercial break, Fox caught on and pulled the ads. The racing spots were replaced by ads for home mortgage loans and Campbell's Chunky Soup's Super Bowl Moments. Some airing repeatedly in the same block.
Despite the network temporarily pulling racing commercials, ads featuring racing footage and drivers are going back to the drawing board.
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