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April 12, 2021, 11:26 AM | #1 |
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Anybody else tired of fear marketing?
I get a lot of newsletters from different retailers and outlets of gun accessories. Lately I can't count how many e-mails I'm getting urging me to "buy now before it's gone".
"High capacity magazines in stock, buy while you still can" "Get these pistol braces while they're still allowed" And on and on, several times a day. I get that fear of missing out is a very effective marketing tool but when that's all your advertising consists of I very quickly start to tune it out. I'd much rather read about things you want to sell me because they work well, make my life easier, or they're just plain cool/fun. Lately all the messages seem to be "don't think, buy it all at inflated prices while you can." Maybe that's just me though. Most of us here are probably aware of all the pending actions and political atmosphere going on. Maybe there is a lowest common denominator who needs to be made aware of these things. But to me it feels like it's all about pushing products based on fear rather than merit.
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April 12, 2021, 11:47 AM | #2 |
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Yep, I am. I have tried to tune out the people and companies peddling fear. Those who do so only care about their agenda or $, so I don't need them around me.
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April 12, 2021, 01:41 PM | #3 | |
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Quote:
If you've been doing this for a couple of decades and have most of what you like to shoot already, you have a sort of built in equanimity that new shooters will lack. I'm slightly surprised that full capacity rifle magazines are still as available and affordable as they are.
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April 12, 2021, 03:00 PM | #4 | |
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Quote:
I at least get the merit of saying "hey, we have ARs and ammo in stock and it will sell out soon" but standard capacity magazines seem to be everywhere and they're not even really being focused on right now (other than general anti gun rhetoric from the administration, no actual movement on them happening in Congress) so it seems a little reductive to me. One newsletter I do appreciate getting is SG Ammo. They send out a weekly email with new arrivals and it usually includes an update on availability with the global market, warnings about certain products that may only be available sporadically once they sell out, etc. It reads to me as transparent rather than pushy. Maybe that's what I'm keying in on.
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April 12, 2021, 04:44 PM | #5 |
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I take it with a grain of salt. It may very well be accurate, or not who knows... Its not a bad idea to be cautious and have spares. worst case scenario, you have spares.
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I don't believe in "range fodder" that is why I reload. Last edited by Shadow9mm; April 12, 2021 at 05:50 PM. |
April 12, 2021, 04:49 PM | #6 |
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It scares me. I shoot the ads when I see them.
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April 12, 2021, 04:55 PM | #7 |
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I agree with you about the fear-mongers, but have to admit that the proposed 1993 "assault-weapons ban" pushed me over the edge to buy an AR-15.
Didn't think I had a use for one - had a Rem 788 in .223 that shot more accurately than I could hold - but bought the AR at a gun show based on the ambient panic mentality. Read on the Internet that one could purchase an M1 from CMP with 'proof of marksmanship activity' - a match bulletin. Found a club, shot a match with my new AR-15 (and didn't post the very lowest score of everyone there that day), sent the papers to CMP. Hooked on Highpower. The AR-15 still shoots more accurately than I can (consistently) hold. But "Thanks Bill" for threatening the ban, got me moving in the right direction. So while I agree the fear-mongers are kind of boring and reprehensible, maybe some "on the fence" folks will be swayed to "our" side of the fence by the ban threats. |
April 12, 2021, 04:58 PM | #8 |
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To me it's transparent. Fear is a powerful motivator. The marketers have loads of potential future contraband in inventory and want to unload it. That said, I bought a bunch of magazines of normal and larger than normal capacity just because I'm prudent. I didn't do it out of fear.
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April 12, 2021, 06:39 PM | #9 |
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Fear has been a feature of firearms marketing from at least the mid 1800s.
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April 12, 2021, 06:43 PM | #10 |
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Advertising in general is about fear, sex or happiness, but mostly about fear.
I'm way over all of it.
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April 12, 2021, 06:47 PM | #11 |
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Simply put, fear sells.
Look back a couple of years ago when you could've bought an entry level AR for less than $400 and they sat on the shelves collecting dust. Move forward about 16 months and with riots, covid and whatnot and now those same rifles are going for $800+ and they're selling out. Same with the ammunition. As much as you and I do not need (or want) the fear-based marketing, it's working.
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April 13, 2021, 01:26 AM | #12 |
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When things didn't go well last November, I bought a small stack of 20 round AR mags. They were cheap and I didn't want to not have any when I finally finish my AR build...
So in this case, there was no fear marketing only my personal paranoia... I've always felt a little paranoia is a good thing but a little goes a long way... Tony |
April 13, 2021, 09:03 AM | #13 | |
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Kreyzhorse:
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April 13, 2021, 09:16 AM | #14 |
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Lately, the gun ads I get in my email are more about other things like survival foods, moving accounts offshore to avoid confiscation, etc. The "DELETE" button is easy enough to use without even opening them.
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April 13, 2021, 09:25 AM | #15 | |
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Quote:
My critique isn't with people stocking up to be prepared, it's with the advertising that flashes "buy now before it's banned" and similar phrases in big letters to trigger that guthook, gotta buy it now reaction in people. Probably just a little jaded to it considering I started shooting after Sandy Hook so my first 4 years of shooting were filled with that kind of messaging from the industry and it was nice when it died down some
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April 13, 2021, 09:40 AM | #16 |
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The fear marketing apparently works and I see it over and over. Every time there is a run on guns or ammo (and that's every year lately) it seems to kill my business as a lot of people decide to buy another gun or stock up on ammo. People think that if you are in the "gun business" sales must be through the roof.
While the gun manufactures and ammo companies are certainly benefiting from all the fear buying, I'm sure there are others in the accessory business like me that aren't and get put on hold for another gun. My business always comes back to normal once things settle down, then the cycle starts again for one fear or another. |
April 13, 2021, 10:01 AM | #17 |
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Never let a crisis go to waste.
The other side does it and our side does it.
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April 13, 2021, 10:08 AM | #18 | |
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Quote:
Two years ago I was getting ten free PMags with every case of ammunition from Palmetto. I bought cheap, stacked deep. Others didn't, instead enjoying their grande double mochaccino lattes until the time they could post "I cantz find primers!", "whur duh ammo?", "OMG CTD!". Maybe if they had believed such warnings they wouldn't find themself in the pickle they are now in. (and we wouldn't have ten threads a week about ammunition, gougers, scalping and general whining about being unprepared.
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April 13, 2021, 10:11 AM | #19 | |
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April 13, 2021, 11:04 AM | #20 | |
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When prices got low in 2012 I bought parts to build one just to see how it's done. It seems a great design for someone like me, not a technically experienced fellow, but just barely smart enough to work a hammer and punch. I could understand someone preferring bolt action rifles, but I've since sold mine. ARs are just too easy to get right.
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April 13, 2021, 11:07 AM | #21 |
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I get mostly ads about inflatable party sheep and car warrantees. I don't know why.
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April 13, 2021, 12:08 PM | #22 | |
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It's the least of my worries. Even the Whine Haus mentioned inflation and said they weren't worried about it. Sounds like they're worried 'bout it (don't politicians always lie?).
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-...d-years-ahead/ Their definition is garbage. Quote:
Inflation affects us all. It even affects the servants the politicos send out to enforce their laws. Gonna risk your life confiscating 2A when you're doing it for nothing and don't even know if you're going home to see your wife and kids at the end of the shift? Solzhenitsyn mused that if every NKVD/KGB man went out knowing he might not live, would he have been so eager to round up the usual suspects? I suspect most of us have more than enough toys and do dads. Work on developing a community network because no man is an island and you need the support of others to make it through rough times. You can't stand watch 24/7. If you read about the Great Depression, you'll learn that Americans pulled together and helped each other out in whatever meagre way they could. We've drifted from it (too selfish) and need to pull together like our great or grand parents once did. Want light reading? We Had Everything But Money and When the Banks Closed, We Opened Our Hearts. Use the library card. But remember, it must be a community based on like minded individuals and not just the leeches many people have become. I see too many Frei Schiesse Armee types today. Start your seeds for a summer garden.
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April 14, 2021, 02:09 AM | #23 |
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The most anxious people easily believe rumor$ that Biden and the Senate can do what they want-despite the dangerous political risks for anything dramatic.
The fact that only very secondary EOs or EAs about guns have been signed should - to naive people- finally demonstrate that not only is the WH and their ‘majority’ in the US Senate really weak (especially with the 60 vote Filibuster).... but political risks are far too dangerous, even for an EO such as federal UBCs. If it weren’t such a risk, then Biden would have been told to sign this type of EO. Everything is a calculation. |
April 14, 2021, 03:52 AM | #24 |
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Fear is a marking tool, just like so many others. Urgency is a example. Just like a piece of junk mail with the word "Urgency" stamped on the envelope. Need another, there are many. Fear though is the greatest.
And marketing fear is used in every day of our lives for practically anything we do. And people buy into it all the time. Politicians use it, religions use it, propaganda uses it etc. We see it all the time in the gun culture. For example if you do not carry a Pistol with higher capacity, you are a dead man walking. 7,8,9 rounds not good enough any longer, you have to have 10, then 11, then 12 etc for EDC. Fear of dying is king. Fear of growing old, fear of going to hell. All used since the beginning of man kind. |
April 14, 2021, 08:53 AM | #25 | |
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Try this - it is long but worth the time: https://opensourcedefense.org/blog/g...as-realized-it Carl the Floor Walker - I also think you are exactly correct about fear being a great motivator. Years ago at work I was having a heck of a time selling an innovation that seemed to me to be obviously beneficial. A wiser person than I (there are many of them) suggested that pointing out the benefits that might accrue as a consequence of a particular action was not as effective as pointing out how bad Management would look if the competition marketed that innovation instead of us. He essentially told me to threaten them with looking like fools if they failed to heed my advice... but nicely. I need to get to the range rather than sitting here thinking about History and culture. 100 years ago they banned alcohol, something that many people wanted but everyone agreed could be badly misused. Respect for (and adherence to) Law plummeted, the bootleggers made a killing (in both senses) and fortunes were made - The Roaring 20s. We may be entering a new Roaring 20s. |
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