omegared24
Ultimate Member
Old School Punchline - Do you think I could trade two $25k Hi Points for one ?
Modern take - They are totally f'ing brilliant !
Off the bat , they aren't about the guns as guns . They are all about modern era Branding and Social Media Influence .
Go back 15-20 years when TV was still a thing . You had a slew of reality shows about custom motorcycle builders . Were traditional long time cycle enthusiasts spending $50-80k at Orange County Choppers ? Nah
They were using the then hot platform of cable tv to promote themselves as cultural phenomenon , and create a new market of buyers with little to no background with cycles to spend $$$ on flashy " totally custom " product , and were sucuessful enough to spur a plethora of similar shows and builders .
More or less same thing early 2010's with Reality Gunsmiths ( until Will Hayden got busted as Serial Child Molester )
We're laughing about this " $50k Custom AR " , but from their view , they just got high profile Product Placement from a guy with 20 MILLION followers . No legit firearms manufacturers have ever gotten 1/10 of that reach with any advertising . And most of those were virgin territory with a recieving audience with little or no exposure to traditional firearms Mfgs , or retailers .
Is this a Bad Thing ?
1. Capitalism Baby !
2. 20 million millienals and gen z just recieved a message that " MSR are cool " rather than " Ick ! Guns are Evil " .
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Disclaimer in above references - Wild West Guns was totally legit high quality builder , with actually worthwhile inovations , with pre existing good reputation among real gun people . To the point they made boring reality tv for non- shooting mainstream viewers from lack of drama .
No doubt it's great marketing. Any publicity is good publicity.