"Gun Sellers’ Message to Americans: Man Up"
"The number of firearms in the U.S. is outpacing the country’s population, as an emboldened gun industry and its allies target buyers
with rhetoric of fear, machismo and defiance."
"
By Mike McIntire, Glenn Thrush and Eric Lipton
June 18, 2022
Last November, hours after a jury acquitted Kyle Rittenhouse of two
shooting deaths during antiracism protests in 2020, a Florida gun
dealer created an image of him brandishing an assault rifle, with the slogan: “BE A MAN AMONG MEN.â€
Mr. Rittenhouse was not yet a man when he killed two people and
wounded another in Kenosha, Wis. — he was 17 — but he aspired to
be like one. And the firearms industry, backed by years of research
and focus groups, knows that other Americans do, too.
Gun companies have spent the last two decades scrutinizing their
market and refocusing their message away from hunting toward selling handguns for personal safety, as well as military-style weapons
attractive to mostly young men. The sales pitch — rooted in self-defense, machismo and an overarching sense of fear — has been remarkably successful.
Firearm sales have skyrocketed, with background checks rising from 8.5 million in 2000 to 38.9 million last year. The number of guns is
outpacing the population. Women, spurred by appeals that play on fears
of crime and being caught unprepared, are the fastest-growing segment
of buyers.
An examination by The New York Times of firearms marketing research,
along with legal and lobbying efforts by gun rights groups, finds that
behind the shift in gun culture is an array of interests that share a commercial and political imperative: more guns and freer access to
them. Working together, gun makers, advocates and elected officials
have convinced a large swath of Americans that they should have a
firearm, and eased the legal path for them to do so.
Some of the research is publicly known, but by searching court filings
and online archives, The Times gained new insight into how gun
companies exploit the anxiety and desires of Americans. Using Madison
Avenue methods, the firearms industry has sliced and diced consumer attributes to find pressure points — self-esteem, lack of trust in others, fear of losing control — useful in selling more guns.
In a paradigm-setting 2012 ad in Maxim magazine, Bushmaster — which manufactured the rifle used in the racist massacre in Buffalo in May — declared, “Consider your man card reissued"
[snip]
"Anxiety Sells"
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/18/us/firearm-gun-sales.html
Hmmmmmm, sounds like some sort of metallic penis.
Technobarbarian wrote:
"Gun Sellers’ Message to Americans: Man Up"
"The number of firearms in the U.S. is outpacing the country’s
population, as an emboldened gun industry and its allies target buyers
with rhetoric of fear, machismo and defiance."
"
By Mike McIntire, Glenn Thrush and Eric Lipton
June 18, 2022
Last November, hours after a jury acquitted Kyle Rittenhouse of two
shooting deaths during antiracism protests in 2020, a Florida gun
dealer created an image of him brandishing an assault rifle, with the
slogan: “BE A MAN AMONG MEN.â€
Mr. Rittenhouse was not yet a man when he killed two people and
wounded another in Kenosha, Wis. — he was 17 — but he aspired to
be like one. And the firearms industry, backed by years of research
and focus groups, knows that other Americans do, too.
Gun companies have spent the last two decades scrutinizing their
market and refocusing their message away from hunting toward selling
handguns for personal safety, as well as military-style weapons
attractive to mostly young men. The sales pitch — rooted in
self-defense, machismo and an overarching sense of fear — has been
remarkably successful.
Firearm sales have skyrocketed, with background checks rising from 8.5
million in 2000 to 38.9 million last year. The number of guns is
outpacing the population. Women, spurred by appeals that play on fears
of crime and being caught unprepared, are the fastest-growing segment
of buyers.
An examination by The New York Times of firearms marketing research,
along with legal and lobbying efforts by gun rights groups, finds that
behind the shift in gun culture is an array of interests that share a
commercial and political imperative: more guns and freer access to
them. Working together, gun makers, advocates and elected officials
have convinced a large swath of Americans that they should have a
firearm, and eased the legal path for them to do so.
Some of the research is publicly known, but by searching court filings
and online archives, The Times gained new insight into how gun
companies exploit the anxiety and desires of Americans. Using Madison
Avenue methods, the firearms industry has sliced and diced consumer
attributes to find pressure points — self-esteem, lack of trust in
others, fear of losing control — useful in selling more guns.
In a paradigm-setting 2012 ad in Maxim magazine, Bushmaster — which >> manufactured the rifle used in the racist massacre in Buffalo in May
— declared, “Consider your man card reissued"
[snip]
"Anxiety Sells"
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/18/us/firearm-gun-sales.html
Hmmmmmm, sounds like some sort of metallic penis.
--------------------------------------------------------------
...
Women, spurred by appeals that play on fears of crime and being caught unprepared, are the fastest-growing segment of buyers.
...
--------------------------------------------------------------
At the end of the day going forward in this fast-changing world of regendering, I guess women want a penis, too.
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