Firearm Advertising on Network TV

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RioShooter

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Other than on the Outdoor Channel, advertising for firearms is not done.

Advertising in local markets that feature gun sales is common.

So why are there no national ads for firearms and related items?
 
So why are there no national ads for firearms and related items?
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TV time is very expensive for a target audience that would be a very small percentage of viewers.

I see gun shop and shooting range ads on the local channels now and then.

Everyone uses Dial soap and drinks Pepsi but the target audience for Remington rifles is too small to hit with national ad campaigns vs the cost of airtime.

It's simple financing and marketing.
 
Further more, the "target" group for those adds is more likely to be watching outdoor channel and such rather than desperate house wives! ;)
 
TV Ads

I can understand prime time on the network channels but none on any cable channel except outdoor channel is weird. Wednesday night on the outdoor channel is like an alternate reality.

With all the infomercials on late night you think that you could see an occasional ad that's gun related.

I just thought it was banned like hard liquor.
 
The gun companies should piggy back commercials with other companies that advertise a lot. For instance, a pick up truck commercial could have a very brief, but noticeable, shot of a gun rack with a few hunting rifles in it. The gun company would not have to pay for an entire commercial, and the pick up truck company would benefit from the gun company defraying the cost of the commercial. Kind of like when a movie prominently displays the main character drinking a can of Coca-Cola or eating a bag of doritos.
 
Hard liquor ads aren't banned are they? I've seen tons of them. There's Captain Morgan commercials all the time, vodkas, gin, tequila (Jose mostly), etc.

Dope
 
Other than noting being able to reach the desired demographics (when was the last time you saw an ad for a motorcycle during American Idol?), I would say that many networks have policies against advertising firearms as they do with alcohol and did with tobacco until the recent legislation.
 
Hopefully guns will grow in popularity, if we do our part, and there will be a time when guns advertisements will be aired on National Television. If and when that day comes, the Brady Campaign will be looking for a new line of work.
 
I would say that many networks have policies against advertising firearms as they do with alcohol and did with tobacco until the recent legislation.
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A network that will air a television commercial in which Bob Dole's dog wants to mate with Britney Spears would have little qualm with airing a Remington ad.

Money talks my friend :) They would advertise anything if the price was right.
 
TV time is very expensive for a target audience that would be a very small percentage of viewers.
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Well, the target audience for Viagra is small (pardon the choice of words) (percentage-wise), also, but that certainly doesn't stop them from airing those ads ten times a day.

The networks are well known anti gun folks so I'm sure they veto any national gun ads.
 
I watch a lot of ufc and there are a couple guys sponsored by dpms and guns of america. Its funny I have now become a bigger fan of those guys. I know its not network TV its pay per veiw but still cool. Jens Pulver 155lb fighter has that Malon Labe or however you spell it tatooed on his fore arm.
 
Well, the target audience for Viagra is small (pardon the choice of words) (percentage-wise), also, but that certainly doesn't stop them from airing those ads ten times a day.
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Viagra is also a consumable product, not a durable one.

While a lot of American homes have firearms, not many folks have multiple firearms, or trade out and buy different firearms regularly.

I think ammo ads would be a more prudent start.
 
Marlin is either #1 or #2 in the US, for number of rifles sold.

They've been making lever guns since 1881 (with some twists and turns in between). They recently donated a commemorative rifle to NRA-ILA. It's the 30,000,000th Marlin lever gun. 30 million sounds like a lot, even if it took 127 years.

Now consider that General Motors sold over 9 million cars, just in 2005.

What's the profit on a rifle? What about a car?

Anheuser-Busch sells beer, which is a lot cheaper than cars, and they advertise a lot. But they sold 121,900,000 barrels of beer just in 2005.

Marlin can't justify prime time advertising. It's far too expensive. Smaller-volume manufacturers, even less so.
 
Everyone uses Dial soap and drinks Pepsi but the target audience for Remington rifles is too small to hit with national ad campaigns vs the cost of airtime.

It's simple financing and marketing.
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I don't know. I think gun ads would do pretty nicely during, say, the showing of shows like:

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Burn Notice
Jericho
Law and Order
CSI
Walker: Texas Ranger
Miami Vice

... and so on and so forth. They'd also not necessarily need to be prime-time shows, or even new ones: old shows need advertising, too.

When most people don't know that even owning guns is legal, the subliminal message of, "hey, you can buy one too!" would likely provide dividends, I'd think.

I'd also think there are probably prohibitions against such advertising by now, as there is against advertising (say) cigarettes. If not legally, then I'm sure advertising companies/broadcast companies have such prohibitions, sadly (free market, indeed).
 
I think we'll see a gun ad on TV soon- and I mean for a non-sporting purpose. My hunch is that it will set up like an ADT security ad or something like that. I think that the market is there for sure. I think this "for the children" crap is finally going away. Personally, I'd love to see cigarette ads on TV too. Those old British "Hamlet cigar" ads were soooo funny.
 
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