I recently got an upgrade on how I get TV, so have been able to watch some gun-oriented programming. I’m dismayed that much of the advertising for firearms uses badassery as a carrier. I guess they know what sells guns, but… I just find it irritating and even a little insulting. Am I alone in this?
I bet I’m alone in this: I enjoy ads and segments with Larry Potterfield. No beard / tattoo / tactimax-ness perhaps, but… a sharp guy for sure and something different in terms of gun-biz personalities. I like him.
I would have this couple. The woman MUST be blonde, 36 C cup, EXACTLY 31 years old. The man shouuld be maybe 35, glasses, a kinda middle class guy
Not nerdy but settled wearing business casual …and they are having playful banter.
“wanna do it loud…or quiet?”
“Well I don’t want to bother the neighbors.”
“It’s safer this way anyways” the female says as she playfully unzips something unseen
“Here…put it on. Lets have some fun.”
The man grins impishly as he adjusts something below our sight level
he has mounted a suppressor and they begin shooting popper targets behind their country home.
The 80s soul song “I’d still say yes” by Klymaxx plays ambiently throughout.
I HAVE THE ANSWERS PEOPLE! I KNOS HOW TO REACH OTHERS!
It is because I kbow what I can never hsve that I know what people want
They want comfort. They want a safe way to feel “dirty” They want their heteronormative lifestyles accepted and reinforced.
People still watch the nigh 30 year old polar bear coke commercial because it makes them feel like every day is a guarantee
SCENE. A Porsche comes barreling onto a rather austere Autumnal shooting range.
FOOT FOCUS on sockless power heel show clacking harshly onto concrete. A super bitchy looking and expressionless woman steps adroitly out and pulls out an HK 762. The 1984 UK Single version of Who Wants To Be a Millionaire by ABC blares authoritatively as this bitchy and unaccessable woman in fitted pantsuit and heels emphasizing the veins in her feet clack clack clacks to the firing line. She places two expensive earbuds in. She is also wearing violet mirror shades as she sights in her rifle.
Ending scene is her standing imperially as leaves fall behind her in slow motion as the song hits that one harsh spot.
Honestly, the best advertising that HK ever received was courtesy of the SAS in 1980.
Yeah, if you’re not Kyle Lamb then you should knock it off already, and even Lamb spends half of his show hunting.
But two things drive me the most crazy…
Slow motion footage of the action of the gun when firing, it was cool the first time and now it’s just annoying.
That guy from Front Sight who can’t hold any firearm correctly and insists on keeping his thumb on the same side of the receiver as his shooting hand no matter what firearm he is actually shooting. I’m sure he’s a good shot, but drives me up the effin wall.
Both are regular features on Gun Stories.
Also hate the snappy, robotic moves people insist on doing while they are shooting. For example when they are done double tapping an AR, they immediately snap it to a 45 degree canted angle because they once saw a Navy Seal do it and then snap to a low ready. Almost reminds me of people pop locking / break dancing but with firearms. It’s even more retarded when done with a Costa “hand behind the front sight” hold.
Just shoot for speed and accuracy, we don’t give points for style. It’s not interpretive dance. Ben Stoeger is truly one of the greatest shooters I’ve ever seen because he would crush Hackathorn drills wearing shorts and flip flops.
She isn’t a redhead, and she is a large C, but seems right on the mark. Regarding guys, if I have to see a dude for marketing, show someone who looks like a Ranger. The gay logger look is horrible, and that is what is typically shown instead of an ODA guy. Anyway, less talk about guys, and more about Bonnie or redheads…
Okay Bonnie is in that zone. Just give her slightly longer “mom” hair. But not frumpy. Also a sweater. Maybe a cardigan.
Breast size is highly important and specific because the breasts must be large enough to attract men but not too large so as to turn off other women with breast envy.
Per the gay logger look, I firmly believe that is because most dudes are fat and lazy these days and eat too much soy.
I also want Latin girls to sell Single Action revolvers and leather actions. With long straight hair and that right color of Meso-American brown.
I will offer my marketing expertise for Mr. Pibb, Rip Its, and all the 168 FGMM I can fit in a U Haul.
I also want nerdy cute girls in glasses to market scopes.
I’m sure there are exceptions, but pretty much all the folks I run into sporting the look never served. When the hipster community college art major has co-opted your look, you know it’s past. (Including a nephew)
The few I know who were in big name units may have tats, but view the bearded macklmore look as silly. (Including a past boss who was a “SF baby”)
Wow looks like I unwittingly uncorked some pent-up angst here!
Firefly, whatever you are doing, you missed your calling. YOU should be the $220 K / year ad exec… better yet the name-your-own-price freelancer the FI industry will do anything to hire! With some of the other guys here an effective ad agency could be stood up! Well, maybe. I mean I too know what I’d like to see, very specifically but I do think it’s possible these outfits shape ads to fit the demographics and returned surveys, numbers that don’t lie although we ourselves may be outliers. I just don’t know. Sex in advertising, all for it, but there again, if it becomes more than a flavor-adding ingredient, it becomes overbearing and there you are, you’ve taken badassery out and replaced it with sex and so once again you’re not selling your product based on its merits or the merits of gun ownership.
IMHO if anything it often kinda makes me think I wont deal with that kinda company if I can 
