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The gun industry seems to focus most of its marketing money running ads in print media
such as the gun-themed enthusiast magazines, and the NRA magazine.

The only gun ads that I am aware of on broacast media (Radio/TV) are on Tom Gresham's "Gun Talk" on Sunday nights.
I can recall ads for Ruger, Springfield Armory, and Taurus (PT145 for sure).

Has anyone ever seen an ad on TV by a gunmaker? How about local pawn shops?

Here's my speculation on the dearth of gun ads on TV: the gun industry is currently selling everything they can make,
the gunbuying public is enthusiastic about their products, and TV time is very expensive.

I don't think there's any federal restrictions on advertising guns on TV - it just seems that at this time the gunmakers'
marketing plans don't see TV ads as useful.

Comments?

SIA

Lots of gun commercials on the Outdoor Channel as well as Versus. Like any other business they want to advertise to their targeted market, so they do it during hunting and shooting themed shows. I mean how many commercials for toys do you see during prime time sitcoms? None, you see them oon the Cartoon Network and during Saturday morning cartoons.

Television and mass-market print media are expensive. If you look at what is advertised on TV, it is mostly—

• consumer goods that nearly every buys, like vehicles and fast-food restaurants
• consumer services (think GEICO and Progressive car insurance)
• prescription drugs (high profit)
• new products that most consumers might not otherwise hear about, such as new movies
• television shows

BTW, political TV ads are actually rather low on the list, far below vehicles and restaurants:
http://www.tvb.org/trends/4705" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The people who manufacturer and sell firearms probably know what they are doing, because all the companies currently in operation are profitable. They get more bang for their buck (no pun intended) by print advertising in magazines that their target audience buys and by currying favor with gun writers and professional shooters.

They may also do product placement in TV shows and movies. I wouldn't know.

- Jim

In Burnet, Marble Falls/Bertram ...Central TX has TV commercials (Over the Air-Antenna, I don't get-cancelled cable/satellite etc) from

Nocked & Loaded ~ Nocked-Loaded.Com
306 East Second Street
Lampasas, Texas U.S.A.

Guns R Us
7524 Bosque Blvd # A, Waco, TX 76712

Those I see on Bryan/College Station/Waco/Temple/Killeen TV Stations
maybe a couple more stores, but that's the ones I see often. San Angelo and/or Abilene might have had one

But I see none on Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Victoria stations that I recall .

Henry firearms do have ad on general broadcast media.

Here is a nice one: http://vimeo.com/38915973" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Carry-a-Kimber wrote:Lots of gun commercials on the Outdoor Channel as well as Versus. Like any other business they want to advertise to their targeted market, so they do it during hunting and shooting themed shows. I mean how many commercials for toys do you see during prime time sitcoms? None, you see them oon the Cartoon Network and during Saturday morning cartoons.

Well, those would be the right place to have gun ads. I may not have the Outdoor Channel on my cable lineup,
and I KNOW that I don't have Versus.

That Henry ad was cute.

SIA

AndyC wrote:If it's in an ad on TV, you need to be persuaded that you need it.

That is true for a lot of things. Humanity got through nearly all of history without air freshener or Chia pets and would continue to thrive without them and a lot of other junk.

However, most advertising is meant to persuade you to spend the money that are going to spend on one product instead of the competition: Cheerios instead of Wheaties, Coke instead of Pepsi, Pampers instead of Huggies, etc.

Likewise firearms advertising is meant to persuade you to buy Springfield instead of Glock, Kimber instead of Colt, etc.

- Jim

Carry-a-Kimber wrote:Lots of gun commercials on the Outdoor Channel as well as Versus.

Versus is no more. They were bought out by NBC and have now become NBCSports. Seems like a lot of the gun-related stuff is also no longer aired, but I don't look at that channel listing very often. It is possible that the hunting-related shows are more heavy in the schedule during fall with not much going on in the spring, but the last few times I looked it was heavy on fishing and no hunting.

Jumping Frog wrote:

Carry-a-Kimber wrote:Lots of gun commercials on the Outdoor Channel as well as Versus.

Versus is no more. They were bought out by NBC and have now become NBCSports. Seems like a lot of the gun-related stuff is also no longer aired, but I don't look at that channel listing very often. It is possible that the hunting-related shows are more heavy in the schedule during fall with not much going on in the spring, but the last few times I looked it was heavy on fishing and no hunting.

Dozens of hunting and shooting shows all year long on the Outdoor channel..

Here are a few:

The Best Defense
Shooting USA
Friends of the NRA
Beyond the hunt
Choose your weapon
The Crush
Driven
and many more.

See here for a more compleat listing

http://outdoorchannel.com/Shows.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Other channels, like the History Channel also have gun related shows, Top Shot, Top Gun, etc, although those shows have mostly general ads rather than gun ads.

...there are plenty of ads on MSM which promote guns...I can think of several right off the bat that've made me want to grab a gun and shoot the TV...

Many networks are not exactly firearm friendly and gun manufacturers tend to be careful where they put their money, for some reason I suspect Remington would have a problem advertising on NBC (even if NBC would accept the ad). In addition to that you have to keep in mind Manufacturers don't want to advertise their latest handgun on an episode of CSI, NCIS, Law & Order, ect. where a handgun was used to kill someone, especially a fan favorite character. It's all about image and to be honest most TV networks would hurt the manufacturers image.

Tom Gresham has a show on the Sportman Channel: http://archives.gunsandammo.com/content ... television" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That channel is part of one of the more expensive bundles that I don't pay for.

There are plenty of specialized channels where advertisers can hit target audiences. I think SIA's point is that you don't see many ads for firearms or related products on broadcast television or the mass-market cable channels like ESPN.

- Jim

While advertising the "hardware" might be unnecessary, what about training courses and CHL classes?

Here is a marketing opportunity that perhaps is overlooked.

First provide the common citizen that there is a need to be properly trained, then there is a reason to consider buying the hardware.

Room fresheners are sold, not because they "smell good," but because the room "smells" bad.

Every episode of Top Shot is a firearm advertisement. Product placement is an advertising revenue stream for most TV/movie productions. There are also references in Tim Allen's Last Man Standing. However, I do find it odd that there are no actual firearm commercials during shows like, Top Shot, Sons of Guns, & American Guns.