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Black Rifle

Introduction

Marketing aims to generate a demand, but the marketing of guns has instead created an

endless nightmare. The bad marketing of firearms has ended up in the creation of a gun

culture, which turns it into a weapon of war. The use of firearms in crime and violence, has

seen a tremendous rise over the years due to increased marketing and sale of firearms.

Making it worse, the presence of black markets dealing in guns, continue to operate despite

numerous gun control measures put in place by the government and related agencies. There is

need for stricter and much efficient gun control strategies. Black Rifle company has been

involved in a lot of controversies in its marketing of coffee due to the use of its guns in

criminal activities like mass shootings that has killed many. This greatly affects its marketing

strategies for its coffee and a solution can only be achieved if they work together with the

government and are accountable for the production and sale of their firearms. This paper will

look at the culture created through the marketing and sale of guns, the effects, gun control

mechanisms to reduce crime, and the emergence of controversial marketing to help Black

Rifle survive the market.

Culture can be defined as a layered pattern that is social and durable that is passed

down from one generation to the next through interaction and is embodied in artifacts and

behavior. Similarly, we can link gun culture to this by defining it as a layered pattern that is

social and durable and is embodied in firearms as the vehicles of the culture. The gun culture

can be distinguished into two; for self-defense and for serious leisure or recreation (Yamane,

2017, 2018, Yamane et al., 2019). Evidence shows that many Americans have guns in their

homes for various reasons but majorly for safety. Instead of an increase in safety, there has

been an increased report on gun related crime rates and homicides. The Black Rifle in

particular, has been a favorite of mass shooters. For example, a black rifle was used in a mass
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shooting that killed 19 fourth graders and two teachers at an elementary school in Texas,

Uvalde (Mccoy M., 2022). Despite this, the National Rifle Association and some gun rights

activists, continue to deny this and use excuses to distance their culpability in mass murder.

Despite this, the National Rifle Association, continues to support the implementation of the

legislation that enhances school security, improves and maintains mental health, and aids in

the reduction of violence and crimes. Marketing of guns does not automatically create a

culture, but it creates new customers who embed their behaviors and identify themselves with

the weapon, which with time ends up creating a gun culture.

Like cigarettes, guns are also a special category of products since they are both

potentially deadly. They are both consumer products but unlike cigarettes, guns are the only

ones not subject to federal health and safety regulations. This makes it even more potentially

deadly than cigarettes. The only way its consumption can be regulated is if gun

manufacturers and related agencies lead in the change. Gun laws have been put in place by

the Federal government for a while now but it has little to no effect since the manufacturers

still continue producing and supplying more guns. A more sensible solution can be attained

when the government engages gun manufacturers and owners in creating the laws, and hold

the gun industry accountable over the marketing and sale of their firearms, and be held liable

for the criminal use of their weapons. Gun sales continue spike dramatically over the years

despite the opaqueness on the available data on gun sales. From 2014 to 2018, there was

nearly a total of 68 million new guns in America for sale, 47 million manufactured locally

and 21 million imported (Parsons C., 2020). This is a very big increase and the only way to

control this is if agencies distance themselves from marketing and sale of firearms. Over the

years, various gun control measures put in place have yielded zero to no change, due to the

presence of illicit, black markets, that tend to find ways that easily adapt to restrictions placed

by governments on gun purchase and ownership. With the increase in the use of Black Rifle
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guns in mass shooting, it is safe to say that the company is doing little to moderate the culture

wars. Only by working hand-in-hand with the Federal government, can the increased gun-

related deaths be reduced. In a general view, instead of having numerous gun control

strategies, we should have a prohibition.

In order to survive the market, a lot of brands opt for controversial marketing. The

Black Rifle coffee company is centered around controversy since its imagery is centered

around guns that appeals to many customers as seen in the picture below.

Source: Instagram/blackriflecoffee

Its marketing strategy is meme-based. For example, it uses “covfeve”, a famous typo from

president Trump’s Twitter account, as its advertising phrase. The positive word-of-mouth it

has earned is a pending threat to the famous Starbucks. Black Rifle has however faced some

challenges in its marketing since it had to distance itself from various allegations against it

from the use of its guns in the fatal mass shootings. For instance, a boycott was launched

against Black rifle’s campaign, by Rittenhouse’s conservatives. The Rittenhouse were

exonerated from their involvement in fatal shootings in Kenosha, Wiscousin (Bezek I., 2021).

Unlike Starbucks whose marketing is founded within its business model, Black Rifle’s

marketing is majorly based on its appeal to people’s politics, which does not have a lasting
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effect. Black Rifle can adapt a strategy that enables to not only sell their coffee online, which

they do currently, but also helps them support their company on a large scale. This can be

through opening physical stores in various locations instead of only relying on its online

sales. Alternatively, with the adoption of a more functional and effective business model,

Black Rifle can come with much better strategies that are suitable for both the company, its

customers, and the regulatory agencies, instead of only relying on its appeal to people’s

politics, which tends to focus a particular group at a time.

Conclusion

Increased marketing of guns has created a new customer with a culture that results into

increased crime and violence, and the Federal government should put in place gun control

measures that involve the gun manufacturers and related agencies by holding them

accountable for the marketing and sale of their weapons. There has been a challenge in

ensuring the accountability of gun manufacturers in the sale of firearms due to the presence

of black markets that continue to circumvent the existing gun control laws. The government

and related agencies should also come up with much stricter laws that are efficient enough to

prevent the continued operation of illicit black market. Challenger brands like Black Rifle

and cigarette manufacturers, opt for controversial marketing to help them achieve their goals.

In order to succeed, Black Rifle’s marketing and sales strategy should not only involve

online-based selling but they should also open up physical stores in various locations in order

to get the chance to serve new communities and to support their company in a large scale.

The should also openly support campaigns against gun violence so as to gain trust from the

public in their products.

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References

Bezek I. (November 29, 2021). Black Rifle Coffee Aims to be the Next Big Controversial

SPAC. Yahoo! Retrieved at: https://finance.yahoo.com

Mccoy M. (June 5, 2022). Black rifles are the favorite of mass shooters. To save lives,

these guns have to go. Retrieved at: https://kansasreflector.com/2022/06/05/black-

rifles-are-the-favorite-of-mass-shooters-to-save-lives-these-guns-have-to-go/

Rangel N. (February 7, 2022). San Antonio-tied Black Rifle Coffee Co. doubles ad budget for

Joe Rogan as controversy swirls

Parsons C. (September 23,2020). Opinion: Gun Industry Must Be Held Accountable for

Gun Violence. Retrieved at: https://jjie.org/2020/09/23/gun-industry-must-be-held-

accountable-for-gun-violence

Yamane D (2017) The sociology of U.S. gun culture. Social Compass 11:e12497.

https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12497