For my research on America’s gun culture, I have dozens of hours of gun-related TV shows recorded on my DVR. I have such a backlog not only because I record alot of shows, but also because it takes me a long time to watch the shows. Even though I DVR them, I do not always fast forward through the commercials. Indeed, many times the commercials are more interesting than the programs themselves — at least to a sociologist.
Although I am only doing a systematic study of advertising in gun magazines, I observe television ads closely as well. Recently I was watching a DVRed episode of “Handguns and Defensive Weapons” on Sportsman Channel (hosted by Richard Nance and James Tarr).
I was struck by the number of advertisements that focused on women and self-defense. A basic point of my work is that self-defense has always been a part of American gun culture, but it has become more central over time. So the self-defense emphasis is not surprising.
More notable to me was the centrality of women in the ads. Although women have always been a part of gun culture, men have predominated historically and even today. How far behind men women lag in gun ownership and even how many women own guns are open questions. But people like The Cornered Cat Kathy Jackson specialize in finding ways to encourage more women to get involved in gun culture. The appearance of more and more women in gun advertising signals this interest.
Most notable to me about these three ads was that each portrayed women somewhat differently. In this and two following posts, I will highlight one of the three ads with an eye to these differences.
The first is a 30 second ad for the Walther CCP handgun.
Although the female gun carrier is the central actor in this ad, the presumed audience is not women who might want a Walther CCP to defend themselves. Rather, the advertisement is directed at men (by the male voice-over) who want their women to have a Walther CCP in the event that the man can’t be there to protect them.
This seems to me to be a somewhat limited view, because a man interested in armed self-defense might want his woman to be armed whether or not he was there to protect her.
As much as many want to get women more involved in gun culture, this ideal of the masculine protector is still very common in Gun Culture 2.0. The two scholars who have (so far) studied concealed carriers sociologically both observe this: Jennifer Carlson in her book Citizen-Protectors (about which I’ve written many times) and Angela Stroud in her forthcoming book, Good Guys With Guns: The Appeal and Consequences of Concealed Carry.
Gun Culture 2.0 
[…] Source: Walther TV Ad Exemplifies Masculine Protector of Gun Culture 2.0 […]
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Keep in mind that an advertisement for a “Carry” pistol today is a near desperate attempt to hold market share in what is a nearly saturated market. Like Coke vs Pepsi vs RC Cola (I live in Florida.) the battle for share (As opposed to brand name seeding a new market.) leads to targeting narrower and narrower audiences. For what it may be worth, it looks to me like the target audience for this one isn’t actually “protectors”, (Those guys bought a Ruger LCR eight months ago), it’s guys with around $1100 in their pocket who are looking to get their significant other a Christmas / Birthday / Anniversary gift. A name brand, obviously expensive gift. The message is; “Jewelry? No, No! Shiny Foreign (BMW! Audi!) Gun? Yes, Yes!”
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Thanks for the comment. You may be right. But I do meet alot of guys who think like this: I need my wife to have a gun in case I am not there to protect her.
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[…] on Sportsman’s Channel during the “Handguns and Defensive Weapons” program. The first that I wrote about was for the Walther CCP and exemplified the masculine protector ideal of gun […]
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[…] Defensive Weapons” show on Sportsman’s Channel. I previously looked at an ad for the Walther CCP handgun and the Hornady RAPiD Safe. Here I look at a 15 second advertisement for the Smith & Wesson […]
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Glock started out their “Confidence” campaign with (what was to me) a sour note, a hyper-masculine ad with a USPSA stage and a ‘bro nod that signified that yes, I am top dog on this stage.
They’ve since changed for the better, though. Good for them.
http://www.exurbanleague.com/misfires/2012/10/31/same-planet-different-worlds/
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Excellent observation, thanks.
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[…] which they try to get consumers – often subconsciously – to attach to their products. The male protector is one such ideal I have seen recently, and ideas about masculinity (and femininity) are frequently […]
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[…] which they try to get consumers – often subconsciously – to attach to their products. The male protector is one such ideal I have seen, and ideas about masculinity (and femininity) are frequently sold. […]
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