A Car and Driver April Fool’s hoax on the Web, reporting President Obama had ordered Chevrolet and Dodge out of NASCAR after the 2009 season, turned into a sizzling Internet topic Wednesday.
“Just when we thought we could take a breather from Barack Obama’s wacky policies, he reached across the Atlantic today to drop another one on us,” wrote Sandra Rose at Rightfielders.com. “Naturally, NASCAR fans are outraged.”
Car and Driver decided to get in on the prank party by publshing this story.
In a move sure to spark outrage, the White House announced today that GM and Chrysler must cease participation in NASCAR at the end of the 2009 season if they hope to receive any additional financial aid from the government.
After much heat, the magazine pulled the story from its Web site and issued an apology.
Too late. The prank already wasted the valuable time of people from NASCAR, GM and Chrysler who have spent the past year dealing with catastrophic layoffs and financial ruin during this time of crisis in the automotive industry.
This is not a time to make jokes about something so serious—even on April Fools’ Day.
NASCAR officials wanted the media to ignore the prank, saying the publicity would only give the magazine the exposure it wanted. But the editors shouldn’t get off that easy. Perhaps the joke should be turned on them. Perhaps we should consider boycotting the magazine for a month.
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