I was talking to someone about Ruger revolvers today and it reminded me of one of the more direct in-your-face advertising tit-for-tats that Ruger and Smith and Wesson have back in the late 80’s/early90’s. Ruger had some print ads out stating that their guns were more stout that the Smiths and you could tell this immediately because the Rugers were thicker, beefier guns.
S&W didn’t take this laying down and came up with an awesome drop-the-mic without using Ruger by name, but those grips left no doubt who the ad was pointed at.
Smith goes on to call out the ‘bulkier’ competitor revolvers and their porous castings. Honestly, I hadn’t seen a flamewar between two bigtime gunmakers like this since then.
And, you can really tell how old this ad is by the fact that it’s two big name manufacturers defending revolvers.
Ah, those were the days.
I love my revolvers! It’s the only firearm I can hand to my wife, and she doesn’t need any reminders of how to use it properly. That can be a very good thing.
I wish more companies would still battle it out in marketing form. There’s something really enjoyable and nostalgic about seeing two friendly competitors jab at each other.
The auto industry has had some notoriously great marketing battles over the years. Just this week, after the long-time Chairman of Mercedes retired, BMW hired a look-alike actor and filmed this commercial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rx7-ec0p0A
Pretty great.
I bought a Ruger GP-100 the first year they came out. Shot a ton of rounds through it in fun and competition and finally sold it to a very good friend of mine. Sadly a number of years ago he died and his son is still shooting the Ruger. He sent me a picture and it looks as good a new. Ruger’s are definitely bullet proof. TTFN