Scantily Clad women and gun advertisements. acceptable or not?

[mljdeckard]

With the many things in life that need to be protested and changed, as long as it isn't rated R in front of my kids, I really don't much care.

 

[2WheelsGood]

There's not a thing wrong with the human body. It's a wondrous miracle of nature.

So I assume you won't mind them using some naked dude's 'nads to sell you a gun?

 

[22-rimfire]

I think it's a little trashy too, but not out of bounds. Maybe I need to buy the current issue.

I don't want to see no naked dudes, only dudetes. Sorry.

 

[Double Vision]

I don't object to gun ads with female models, but I sure don't base my purchases on the models.

To me, the sexiest ads are the ones for Springfield Armory firearms.
Simple and to the point with one of their products on a blank white backgound.
They get me every time.

 

[Sam1911]

We discussed this last year, with a poll if you want to see how the votes tallied: http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=524688

I said in that thread:

I am quite put off by it, personally. As some others said regarding bad beer, including that kind of thing makes me feel an involuntary rejection of the product as it seems like a transparent attempt to prop up an insufficient product with "below the belt" advertising.

There are some quite attractive ladies who do some mighty fine shooting with top tier equipment. Seeing THEM favoring a certain gun (in a competition setting, in full competition gear) may be a compelling sales tool.

Some unknown woman, in neither a shooting setting nor in shooting gear, is just clutter that overpowers the item being sold. If the advertiser message overpowers the qualities of the item being sold with the "qualities" of the model holding the item, chances are the gun won't be MORE impressive when I'm holding it and she isn't there.

In some limited cases, an attractively dressed woman might make an effective sales tool if she was present in the ad to demonstrate the particular utility of that gun for minimalist concealed carry. But I've yet to see an ad that really did that effectively.

Most are just cheesecake. That "belongs" in ads for lousy beer and sleazy Vegas vacations. Not for any gun I'd want to buy.

Having said that, I'll admit that I even feel that way about good ol' Dillon. The ladies they photograph are generally fairly attractive, and even mostly sophisticated and well dressed. But I just feel embarrassed for them. (And that is NOT sexy, nor a good sales pitch.) They look like someone just handed them a sprocket or a piston connecting rod and said, "Hold this like you mean it." They're there to be looked at, not engaged in the sport or practice they're staging in their image. They know it. You know it. It is false, and stupid, and awkward.

Make the picture one of Jesse Abbate or Julie Golob tearing it up on a USPSA field course and you've got my attention. Heck, make it one of "Carley" but put her on the range with a good instructor running her through an El Prez. That's awesome. Put her in a low-cut top and a mini skirt, holding an AK like it's a marital aid she's not too thrilled about trying...yeah, that's not cool.

Off-putting. Out of place. Inappropriate. Awkward. "You like hamburger, right? Sure you do! Well, our hamburger is SO GOOD, we've dumped a big pile of SUGAR all over it, just for you! Yuuuuuum!"

 

[Stophel]

I think it can get quite trashy and does show the moral state we are in. I think it also does no good for the image of the shooter in they eye of the unwashed masses. Further, I can't actually imagine how it could be successful. Do people buy a gun because they see an ad with a near naked chick holding it???

 

[Noah]

So because YOU don't like it you feel that others shouldn't be allowed to make their own choices? This sort of mindset really aggravates me.

I don't like it in gun/racecar magazines and TV commercials. If you want to, go watch an R movie/show and read a "bad" magazine. It won give me an immediate heart attack, cause me or you to be struck by lightning, or anything of the sort.

Only how I feel about my life, I didn't mean to imply that people shouldn't be able to make their own choices.

I could go into a sermon on how the little things cause you grief down the road (does your girlfriend/wife like you reading/watching that? Would you want your son to know you saw that? etc) but then I would be doing it again, wouldn't I?



EDIT: On a differentish note, I would agree with the above poster that we want guns and gun owners to look as respectable as possible to the Gun Control crowd, and these sorts of ads don't exactly do that.

EDIT: I went ahead and bolded the above, as I feel it is a valid, important, and much more objective consideration.

 

[Redlg155]

Is there any way we can incorporate a new poll into this thread? I didn't see an option in the edit tools.

 

[Ky Larry]

As long as the gun makers don't come to your house and point one of their products at your head and make you look at their ads, I don't see a problem. Nobody is forcing you to look at their ads or buy their products.
We are constantly bombarded with messages wanting us to buy something. Every magazine, billboard, tv show,sign, and radio is fighting for our attention.Personally, I'm grateful that somebody shows me an attractive young lady. I have always liked looking at pretty girls and will probably be checking out the cute young nurses on my final trip to the E.R.

 

[NinjaFeint]

I like scantily clad women and guns so it works for me. It doesn't make me want to buy them though.

I don't think it makes gun owners look bad, sex is used to sell everything.

Also, I don't think a sermon would help me and my gf doesn't care.

 

[MuleRyder]

Along the same lines...

I read Field & Stream. But I have been disappointed in the ads in the back few pages of the magazine. I have the current issue in front of me. There is a full page ad for penis enlargement, another 1/4 page ad for adult toys, and a 1/3 page ad for some kind of pheromone stuff.

 

[Liberty1776]

eeehhhhh.... not to be picky, but EAA could find better looking models. I guess when you're guns are not as beautiful as S&W revolvers, you need to have something to draw the customer's attention...

 

[Bullz]

I don't like the ads. A gun is a technical instrument... it just makes me question the quality of the product if a company is using underhanded advertising tactics. What does a girl in underwear have to do with a gun anyway?

I want to see adds that show the capabilities of the guns... like some special forces guy pulling a loaded gun out of a mud bath and seeing the gun operate flawlessly... or backing a truck over the gun and seeing it continue working without a hitch. Show me it's tough, accurate, and works even under the most demanding situations. That'll sell me on a gun.

 

[TraditionalCatholic]

I have seen several of these ads as well. I find it incredibly immodest and indecent, and, while I MAY still purchase something from that manufacturer, ads with women dressed immodestly make me think less of that manufacturer's advertising department.

 

[TwoWheelFiend]

This thread needs more pictures.

IMO Guns and Beautiful women are two of Gods greatest gifts to men. So I have no issue with gun companies advertising with hot chicks.

 

[Dr_B]

I have no interest in looking at scantily-clad women in gun advertisements in a magazine. I prefer real, live scantily-clad women with guns.

 

[rbernie]

One of the fastest growing segments within the gun community is women shooters. I fail to see how cheesecake ads effectively market to them.

I would opine that these sorts of ads will be viewed by many prospective women shooters as extensions of a locker room mentality, and may even function as an emotional barrier to entry rather than an enticement.

 

[22-rimfire]

I think the Kahr ads aren't too shabby. Does it make me want to buy one? Naaaah. Makes no difference at all, but I do notice the ad and that is important.

 

[Stophel]

"Quote:
I personally thinks it's trashy and morally bent for a "respectable" firearms company to take advantage of women to advertise their product. It says only bad things about the company and the fact that they need to "go there" to try to generate sales. Show a revolver next to a horse and hat. Maybe even advertise a man in a suit aiming a CCW at the camera with his GF/Wife/Daughter behind him. But to put an offensive image next to a gun/accessory for the sole purpose of drawing someone's eyes to it is not The High Road, agreed?

I am offended by all "trashy" advertising and media. Might not be what you'd expect from a 16 year old boy, but I am proud of my religious principles and feel that those sorts of things go against them."


Captains1911: So because YOU don't like it you feel that others shouldn't be allowed to make their own choices? This sort of mindset really aggravates me."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Captains1911, nowhere in this statement did he say anything whatsoever about restricting ANYONE else in making their own choices. You just took it upon yourself to be offended by his personal opinion, demonizing him because it differed from yours (a situation I see all the time anywhere there is a question of morality present). Yours is the mindset that really aggravates me.

 

[ball3006]

So.....you don't like pretty girls? What then do you like? I may be over the hill but I admire pretty girls and guns.....chris3

 

[mgmorden]

Sex sells. It's true for everything out there.

Put it this way: you're now on a forum talking about those ads. They're in your head. How many of the regular old generic "gun sitting on a table with some bullets and a knife beside it" ads are stuck in your mind right now?

Myself, I can't think of any time when I DON'T want to see a nice looking gal, so heck why not in a gun mag. Bring em on.

If you outlaw scantily clad women only the outlaws will have scantily clad women .

 

[Bobson]

I am offended by all "trashy" advertising and media. Might not be what you'd expect from a 16 year old boy, but I am proud of my religious principles and feel that those sorts of things go against them.

So because YOU don't like it you feel that others shouldn't be allowed to make their own choices?

Helloooooo! This entire thread is composed of random opinions. Nobody's here selling you anything. If you don't want to read opinions, navigate yourself away from this thread. Don't come here and complain about the only person who cited religious beliefs as the basis for his opinion. (I'm sure that was a coincidence, right?)

This sort of mindset really aggravates me.

Good. You seem to be an extremely tolerant individual when it comes to the beliefs of others. Give yourself a pat on the back, champ; you earned it.

 

[Hocka Louis]

What issue of Shotgun News was that please? Pleaaase!?

 

[jerkface11]

I would pay more attention to an ad for a firearm featuring Meg Ryan in a bikini

Isn't she like 60?

 

[FROGO207]

Well I get the Blue Press all the time and since the first one it has not swayed me to purchase any more blue colored reloading gear. If they want to pay females to help try and sell the world firearms------whatever. If I had a female in the vicinity like one of those pictured I would definitely NOT want her to be pointing that gun at me and/or shooting it at me either.