Motorsports – Kasey Kahne | NASCAR

The Incident:  Social Media Training, Kasey Kahne | NASCAR

NASCAR drive Kasey Kahne tweeted: “Just walking though supermarket. See a mom breast-feeding little kid. Took second look because obviously I was seeing things. I wasn’t!” Mr. Kahne, who has more than 100,000 followers on Twitter, got a wide variety of responses for and against public breastfeeding. After a woman tweeted Kahne and disagreed with his stance, Kahne called her a “dumb b—-.” (1).

The Outcome:

In an advertiser driven sport where every dollar counts for teams and drivers, Mr. Kahne’s comments upset thousands of fans, and ultimately could have alienated family-friendly sponsors, harming both Mr. Kahne and his team, Hendrick Motorsports. The Tweet caused both brand and image damage for Mr. Kahne, his sponsors and owners. 

The SM2 Prescription:

• SM² Discovery (preventative)
• SM² Policy with Procedures (preventative)
• SM² eLearning, assessment and certification (preventative)
• SM² Public Relations/Crisis Plan and Tactical Drills (preventative)
• SM² Crisis Implementation (protective)

Sources: (1) ESPN.com