Washington, DC
I felt bad for Yum Brands CEO David Novak. That was hard to do, having been ready to throw a shoe at the television with the incessant promotions for Yum's various fast-food joints throughout the Kentucky Derby broadcast. Yum sponsors the Derby, which meant that Novak could congratulate the winner on live television.
So here he was tonight using his allocated 15 seconds only to list the five names of those fast-food joints - yet again! It seems that he was oblivious to the death of the second-place finisher Eight Belles moments earlier. How is it possible to not know something that others on the podium acknowledged in their remarks? It is unimaginable that Novak wouldn't have insisted on real-time situational awareness prior to appearing on global television. Where were his people and what was their knowledge of the tragedy on the track? How could he not have heard something about the horse's death from Bob Costas and the other NBC people prior to going live? Ironically, this is one moment when somebody actually needed a PDA or cell phone at the ready. Reciting those fast-food names again would have been unappetizing enough, but doing so in such a tragic context is humiliating.
I felt bad for Yum Brands CEO David Novak. That was hard to do, having been ready to throw a shoe at the television with the incessant promotions for Yum's various fast-food joints throughout the Kentucky Derby broadcast. Yum sponsors the Derby, which meant that Novak could congratulate the winner on live television.
So here he was tonight using his allocated 15 seconds only to list the five names of those fast-food joints - yet again! It seems that he was oblivious to the death of the second-place finisher Eight Belles moments earlier. How is it possible to not know something that others on the podium acknowledged in their remarks? It is unimaginable that Novak wouldn't have insisted on real-time situational awareness prior to appearing on global television. Where were his people and what was their knowledge of the tragedy on the track? How could he not have heard something about the horse's death from Bob Costas and the other NBC people prior to going live? Ironically, this is one moment when somebody actually needed a PDA or cell phone at the ready. Reciting those fast-food names again would have been unappetizing enough, but doing so in such a tragic context is humiliating.