As the NTRA "gears up" for the November 4 Breeders'
Cup, its ad agency, Merkley Newman Harty, "grovels in
gallows humor," with an ad that is "demeaning and
embarrassing to the NTRA, to the Breeders' Cup, and to horse
racing," according to Stan Bergstein of the DAILY RACING
FORM. The agency has "decided that death and bereavement
provide a hilarious vehicle to reach what racing so
desperately yearns for: the youth of America," by creating a
spot called "Funeral" that "outstrips the potty-mouthed
'South Park' for sheer bad taste." The spot shows a woman
with her daughter at her husband's funeral, with the voice-
over, "If you're not betting the Breeders' Cup, you better
have a good reason." The mother pulls the little girl away
by the hand and says, "Okay, honey, say goodbye. It's
almost post time." NTRA VP/Communications Chip Tuttle
"justifies the sick blunder by saying the 'twenty-something'
crowd loves this stuff, thinks it delightful and
entertaining." Bergstein adds that this is "not the first
time" that NTRA ads have "led to embarrassment." Bergstein,
on the NTRA's effort to target the young male demo via
"cooler, hipper" marketing: "If 'Funeral' is the forerunner,
we can hardly wait. Bring on Beavis and Butt-head and Buffy
the Vampire Slayer. Raise racing's standards! If sense
won't do it, try sick" (DAILY RACING FORM, 10/26).
