Guns: A Disaster-Proof Industry

Once More Without Feeling

I might lose some business from this, but so be it. Sometimes, you've got to be willing to walk away from money.

Besides, how likely is it that gun manufacturers or the National Rifle Association actually need marketing and advertising assistance, really?

Yesterday's news from Orlando, where an armed gunman was able to kill 50 people in a gay nightclub with a handgun and an assault rifle in the most deadly shooting in American history, is all over the news as I sat to write tonight's column. This kind of event happens so routinely in this nation now that we've got all of the reactions down cold -- demands for gun control that will never go into effect, demands for increased carry liberties in the naive hope that non-maniacs will somehow limit the death toll through exceptional marksmanship in chaos -- and a well-known cycle of thoughts and prayers, debate that goes nowhere, and soon enough, another tragedy. The idea that we'd be able, as a country, to do anything about this after 50 adults died in Orlando, when we weren't able to do anything after 26 were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary, 20 of them children, is ludicrous.

So, to bring this around to a marketing and advertising perspective... is there a single industry, ever, where disasters improve the bottom line of the industry and lobbying efforts of the companies who seem, well, at least tangentially responsible?

Gun sales have gone through the roof during the presidency of Barack Obama, who has, whether you think this is a coincidence or act of heroism from the NRA, seized no guns from no one. Sales spike after every massacre, because the belief among the true believers is always that this will be the one that sparks a legislative or executive order, but honestly, gun buyers should just relax and avoid the rush. We see people dead from these kinds of events all the time now. No reason to ever rush to the gun store.

It's also hard to imagine that this would be a defensible hobby or lifestyle choice if it were, well, novel. Imagine if guns were a new invention, and not mentioned in the Constitution, how successful they'd be as an industry. Vaping technology, frankly, seems more highly regulated. Despite the dramatic differences in death counts.

We also can, frankly, dispatch with any comparison to the relative regulation of automobiles (frequent testing, technology upgrades to prevent tragedies, strong administrative oversight through state department of motor vehicles and police enforcement) to guns (loopholes all over, objections to simple counts from the Center for Disease Control, "smart gun" tech blocked at an industry level, background checks more or less stalled in Congress despite strong majority approval, even from NRA members), That hasn't mattered up to now, so why would things be different with another few dozen dead? Better to focus on the motives of the killer, which will easily distract with fear of a religious or ethnic minority. Because the fact that the tools are always the same is somehow not relevant.

So, to sum up. Disasters increase your bottom line in the short term. No disaster ever increases your risk of long-term sales. The rate of disasters is ever-rising, and the answer for every disaster at the individual level is to buy your product. With social media fervent that makes your target (sorry) demographic always have a sense of urgency to buy.

What an incredible business, selling guns. With no end to the good times!

* * * * *

Feel free to comment, as well as like or share this column, connect with me on LinkedIn, or email me at davidlmountain at gmail dot com, or hit the RFP boxes at top right. RFPs are always free, and we hope to hear from you soon.