Sex Sells In The Firearms Industry

Guns, boobs, money, and the internet:

FateOfDestinee doesn’t really like certain aspects of when girls flaunt it to sell products or gain attention in the firearms industry.  I respect her opinion, but I personally have zero problems with that type of marketing.  The companies and the girl(s) involved make the choices by their own free will because they feel it would get them a paycheck or sell them more product.  That’s business.  As a consumer you have to be intelligent enough to look past the good looking girl or guy holding the product.  As far as regular facebook or instagram girls taking sexy pictures with guns, I’m not into following people or companies on facebook at all so I haven’t seen that, and the people I follow on instagram don’t do that either.  That said, if a regular girl or model etc. wants to take a seductive picture with a gun and she knows it will get her X likes and have Y guys tell her how hot she is, and from that she’ll feel good about herself then good for her I guess.  I wouldn’t feel at all comfortable with my girlfriend doing that because I don’t enjoy the thought of guys ogling her, but I’m sure a lot of guys wouldn’t care, and might even encourage it.  You just know there are always going to be several idiots that are going to comment rude things like “Fat!”, “Ugly!” and “2/10 would not” no matter what.  Putting yourself up on the internet for people to critique and troll definitely takes a lot of self-confidence.

Fate-Of-Destinee-ENDOIf you want the M16 fire selector switch t-shirt Destinee has on you can grab it at ENDO Apparel.

Spolier alert for some of you:  8:25 – “You will never see me with a gun in a bikini.  It’s not going to happen.”

Just wait, I’ll start live-blogging in my underwear and triple my traffic. WHO YOU MAD AT? ME OR YOURSELF? :P

Thoughts?


Comments

44 responses to “Sex Sells In The Firearms Industry”

  1. Frank Avatar

    I agree with most of your opinion Mike.
    But I don’t think cars or guns are “sexy” just because women who wear clothes like tramps are holding them or resting on them.

    Only ninnies and constituents of incest would find firearms (or cars) sexy*.

    *with or without half/full-nude women.

  2. It gets me going seeing totally ripped, topless, oiled up bad-ass dudes holding machine guns… No homo.

  3. HOT SHOTS CALENDAR

  4. 05RC51 Avatar

    Waaa… they’re using hot chicks to sell a product. What about the children?????

  5. Hey, Erika just wears those outfits because they’re easier to operate in!

    1. Regulus Avatar
      Regulus

      lol and corey the pimp has no problem with that

    2. what’s the condition called in which men derive pleasure from other men enjoying the sight of their significant other? yeah, he’s got that

      1. Regulus Avatar
        Regulus

        lol he defiantly does. he seems like a good dude but still…any guy that would pimp his gf out isn’t someone i’d like to have coffee with. I’d never in a 1000 years do that with my gf. I’m a gentleman. alot of people have no shame anymore. but hey what do i know lol

      2. aye, took me a while to find it. it’s called candaulism

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candaulism

        1. Regulus Avatar
          Regulus

          WOW…that is totally him. it’s really sad though.

          1. Believe it or not, I’m not an internet shrink. I did stay at a Holiday Inn express last night, though.

            1. doyletoo Avatar
              doyletoo

              by now an “old” reference, but,
              funniest comment on the thread…
              ;)

    3. SittingDown Avatar
      SittingDown

      LOL.

  6. 2Wheels Avatar
    2Wheels

    I don’t see the point in whining about women doing what women have been doing since the dawn of time… Except now they’ve got social media to make it easier.

  7. Sex sells anything. Absolutely anything. Men (as a whole) will do whatever it takes to increase their reproductive chances. Those actions go even further when we are talking about the chance to procreate with one of the finer specimens of the female gender.

    I feel for women. For men, the older we get, the better our chances at reproduction actually get since we typically accumulate more resources. For women, their best years are their peak reproductive years, which really go downhill fast by 35. So women have two choices; use their sex appeal to increase their odds at reproduction, or do like men and cultivate themselves so that they can become self-sufficient.

    The feminist movement has thrown women for a loop. Gone were supposedly the days where women were nothing but baby-making accessories. They could be doctors, lawyers, or even CEOs. Problem is, from an evolutionary standpoint, it’s a lot easier for a Perfect 10 to gain access to a lot of resources by using her god-given good looks than it is to actually work for it. I can see how a woman like FateOfDestinee, who is smart, articulate, works hard at her craft, and actually cares about the second amendment, would be annoyed by women who use sex and guns to get more attention than she would ever be able to garner, even from us gun guys. Life ain’t fair.

  8. Lisa C Avatar

    I’d much rather see a hot guy in whatever ad trying to sell whatever product ~ it just doesn’t happen that way as much. Keep it 100 ~ sexy is appealing and in todays world, you have to appeal to the audience to get any notice. I’m not mad at the chics or the businesses; and hey, bad things don’t just happen to girls when they are fully clothed. If your weapon is not within reach when you have on a bikini no one is going to look at your butchered body and say at least she wasn’t an attention hoe.

  9. Clicked on the video because of the cover picture, came up short. She used a scantily clad woman to get views. Double standards as usual from the “fairer” gender.

    1. BBJones Avatar
      BBJones

      BINGO! screen capture she uses undermines her whole point.

    2. You may have the opinion that I’m employing a double standard, but I specifically chose that thumbnail for the irony and to prove a point. Those would click on the video just for “that” are my intended audience. I respect your opinion that it’s hypocrisy though. The topic has sparked some great conversation on the topic and I’m super pleased about that.

      1. Regulus Avatar
        Regulus

        Well said Destinee. Good vid to BTW

  10. Fake Chris Avatar
    Fake Chris

    I actually agree with Destinee here. Hear me out…

    I’ve taken several newbies to the range and taught them the basics. A handful have been female. And talking to these female shooters (one of which now is a gun owner and shoots more than I do), you realize the experience for a girl is completely different than a guy might expect. There is, in many places, a constant low-grade disrespect that gets really old after a while.

    First gun show she goes to, she’s walking around on her own, looking at some Sig pistols on a table. The vendor walks up, grabs her hand without asking and slaps a pink .22 revolver into it, saying “How’dya like the feel of that, little lady?”. She goes to a gun shop and asks if they have any lower parts kits in stock, the guy just stares at her like she’s from Mars and asks, “You know what that is?” She went to a range and asked to rent a 1911 if they had one, a fat greasy guy comes up and says “Hey girl wanna shoot my Glock? It’s just like a 1911.” And when she does go shoot, much of the time any other guys there are watching her ass rather than her groupings.

    Taken individually, any of these can be easily dismissed as stupid people being stupid. But together they form a pattern of constant low-level disrespect that can make a female shooter feel very unwelcome.
    I suspect a big part of it is because many guys have been shooting for years, and literally don’t know how to react to the new influx of female shooters. Well they’d better learn.

    I don’t think that pinup type girlie gun pics are a bad thing. But I do think that many shooters need to separate that image from the reality of a female shooter. The girl who walks into the range is there to shoot, just like every guy, and deserves to be treated as such.

    1. Quint Young Avatar
      Quint Young

      As a young male shooter I have faced similar issues. I am 19 and started shooting and researching guns since about 9 years old. My father growing up was a gun collector. he taught me well and let me shoot many firearms from his collection (almost all WW2) including a luger, 1911, M1a, transferable MP40, transferable Thomson 1928, and many others. By 15 I was already VERY proficient with firearms and had spent many hours with many different guns, doing everything from shooting to maintenance work, to simple upgrades (like springs, trigger kits, etc..). However still being a 19 year old with acne gets me a lot of criticism at gun shows, ranges and stores. Everyone just assumes that I am some Call Of Duty playing punk. I’ve also run into many dealers who seem to have an issue with my showing any kind of higher knowledge on firearms.

      Recently at a BassPro in my area I was speaking with a salesman in the hunting and firearms section (the lodge). I was looking at .22 pistols and he kept suggesting I go with the Ruger 22/45. I eventually explained that I would not buy that pistol due to certain safety issues. The guy asks me what I’m on about. I explain that the 22/45 is known to fire rounds if the loaded chamber indicator is struck or kits the floor when dropped.
      He gets all defensive, I would assume because I just demonstrated more firearms knowledge than him, and begins to tell me that ALL .22 caliber firearms will do that if dropped. That I’m just an idiot and that all .22s negligently discharge all the time. He goes so far as to say they’ve had that happen to them at the store multiple times in the past month.
      I decided then was the best time to just make my exit.

      however, I often run into people with this kind of attitude. They take offense at my knowledge of firearms and react in stupid ways. I’ve also had sales men attempt to sell me shitty 1911’s like I cant tell the difference between them, while saying things like “kid if you want a .45 this ones is just as good as any other” (direct quote). And the guy is trying to hand me a Llama pistol, like I cant tell the difference and am not familiar with my guns.

  11. Quint Young Avatar
    Quint Young

    I actually have an issue with trying to sell guns by using sexy women. It associates weapons and sexuality, which just seems fucked up to me.

    I also have issued with people who go hit a punching bad or go shoot a rifle when they are angry. They are associating shooting or psychical violence with anger, this just seems like a bad recipe.

    1. Quint, sex is used to sell absolutely everything. With products aimed at men, it is more sexual. With products aimed at women, they still use the most attractive models possible to make women feel inadequate.

      As far as as your fears go, you want people to channel their anger into productive outlets. Channeling anger is productive. Being unable to control it is not. If someone punches a bag or holes in paper after a bad day/argument, more power to them. It’s the ones who don’t know how to properly channel their emotions who are the problem, not the other way around.

      1. Quint Young Avatar
        Quint Young

        There are proper outlets but I think that beating a bag or shooting a gun is just teaching you when your angry to want to punch or shoot something. Why not bicycle or take a walk or something.

        1. SteelerFan222 Avatar
          SteelerFan222

          Quint can you tell your USS Indianapolis story again?

          1. Quint Young Avatar
            Quint Young

            I dont get it

            1. SteelerFan222 Avatar
              SteelerFan222

              Oh come on… Jaws??

  12. Whenever I read a new post, I imagine you reading it to me in your underwear — someone boxers, sometime briefs… sometimes boxer briefs! What other reason would I have to visit otherwise?

    1. ENDO-Mike Avatar
      ENDO-Mike

      LOL good to know Stu. Hey as long as you guys keep visiting you can picture me doing whatever.

      1. I MIGHT show up for the content… sometimes. But let’s keep that our little secret.

  13. I wonder if she likes dudes…

    1. She most likely does. She probably just gets annoyed that even the gun guys she likes lose their minds when they see a pretty girl in a bikini holding a gun. Biology is a bitch.

  14. She’s just jealous.

  15. kingof9x Avatar
    kingof9x

    What about the hypocrisy of using a image of a girl in a bikini holding a gun to “sell” the video to potential viewers?

    1. I specifically chose that thumbnail for the irony and to prove a point. Those would click on the video just for “that” are my intended audience. I respect your opinion that it’s hypocrisy though. The topic has sparked some great conversation on the topic and I’m super pleased about that.

  16. MakoGroup Avatar
    MakoGroup

    Whenever I see a picture of a hot chick holding a rifle or pistol, I usually look at the two separately. I look at the girl, say “eh, I would.” Then say, yea, that rifle looks cool. Then I facepalm when I see their finger in the trigger guard. It really doesn’t sway me to purchase their product.

    1. MakoGroup Avatar
      MakoGroup

      *Or continuously watch their videos/content

  17. Hey I love girls and guns, but this is kind of hypocritical..

  18. SittingDown Avatar
    SittingDown

    Is Destinee Turkish? She looks Turkish.

  19. Enfieldem2 Avatar
    Enfieldem2

    Very rational video, I had a conversation about this very subject with a gunsmith friend of mine a couple of years ago and one of the things he mentioned was the models used to sell things at trade shows he had been to were usually rather scantily clad. With one notable exception, at a shot show he went to he saw the girls at a booth for an Italian firearms manufacturer, I think it was beretta dressed up like they were going out for a night at the opera. He was rather impressed by that.

    And for the record there are plenty of guys who do bad sexual puns with firearms, always grosses me out.

  20. mike’s paragraph is exactly what i want to say but cant find the words to say it.

    destinee, you have 43k subscribers. i havent watched all of your videos (havent watched many, actually) but i assume you havent done any of what you are complaining about, yet you have 43k subscribers. thats a good for you. you have proven women dont need to show skin to get subs, know what i mean?

    its late, im going to bed.

  21. Michael Curtis Avatar
    Michael Curtis

    to get the most out of this video you have to not click play

  22. doyletoo Avatar
    doyletoo

    I get it, and even agree. Every time I see an ad with some chick who usually
    looks like she needs to eat a cheeseburger (or two) (which reminds me: d@mn, i do love me some Hardees commercials!…but I digress) holding a gun while dressed (or undressed) obviously to get attention, I think, “are their products that bad that they have to resort to this?” EAA seems to be the worst offender in most of gun mag ads. Still, it’s a free country. I just don’t have much respect for their advertising/marketing dept.