The NRA’s Gunless Campaign

Posted by Gregory Smith

As the Washington Times reported:

The gun lobby’s campaign, launched in the last 10 days, uncharacteristically delves into issues far beyond the Second Amendment to explore the IRS scandal, media elitism and security vulnerabilities, with a call to return “good guys” to power.

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/sep/4/nra-ad-campaign-goes-beyond-gun-rights-reaches-out/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS#ixzz3CXwCbQiZ
Check out the ads here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDGhPjLSGBA&list=PLyaSPxNidLLv6bIdAyQaHEfSBMfe08u-K

They’re beautiful ads, designed to appeal to moderates, centrists, and independents. People who don’t like politics, but know right from wrong and feel persecuted by the NSA,IRS, etc.
Advertising is a tricky field because half of the money spent is wasted, and you don’t know which half, and yet the NRA must be part of this “conversation” the liberals want to have, and I give them my gratitude for preaching to the unconverted, and it’s getting results:
“It’s been 90 percent positive,” Mr. LaPierre said. “We’ve received emails, letters, voicemails, all from people saying thank you, thank you for speaking up and giving us a voice.”

Out of 11 ads, I think Selective Law Enforcement is the most powerful, and Work Ethic is the least. Consider these lines:
We live in a society that values leisure above everything
our most valued citizens are entertainers, celebrities,
discovered, packaged, sold and forgotten,
one after the other.
What does it mean for our country when entertainment seems
more valuable than anything else?
There are still hundreds of millions of Americans working as
hard as ever, good guys who don’t seek the spotlight but deserve it,
and for the future of our country, we should demand it
Source: Work Ethic
Yes, it’s true school kids are more likely to know them instead of scientists, small business owners, or soldiers. But that’s perfectly normal. Who do you know? The people who make the news. If you’re into science, and you read science news and blogs, you will know the top scientists in your field. But why should the average 11-year-old know theoretical physics? I’m 39 and I can barely understand it.
Besides, us NRA guys have our own celebrities! Charlton Heston, Chuck Norris, Colion Noir, etc. So how exactly do we demand that good guys who don’t seek the spotlight get it? That’s like demanding we should watch CSPAN instead of Fox News, or PBS instead of ESPN.

Of course, I do understand the logic of the ad, a lot of parents and citizens are sick of celebrities, or so they tell us. As an adman I’m far more interested in what people say than what they do, and frankly, I think a life without entertainment is a boring life. Ayn Rand herself had to create entertaining books to spread her philosophy, the NRA itself makes somewhat entertaining commercials to spread their ideas. I saw “Gone with the Wind” before I read the book.

The truth is that Work Ethic could have focused on something else, on those who don’t produce but seek the production of others, those who make minimum wage for 20-years and demand a “living wage,” those on food stamps, those committing disability fraud, hypocrite billionaires that pay themselves in dividends and then complain about the high tax rate of their secretaries (Warren Buffet).

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