What's with all the Zombie stuff?

I take it this isn't a joke?

"Be PREPARED – supply yourself for the Zombie Apocalypse with Zombie Max™ ammunition from Hornady®! Loaded with PROVEN Z-Max™ bullets... yes PROVEN Z-Max™ bullets (have you seen a Zombie?). Make sure your "bug out bag" is ready with nothing but the best!"

http://www.hornady.com/store/Zombie-Max-new

http://www.tactical-life.com/online/products/taurus-zombie-responder/

lol. Sounds like some clever tounge-in-cheek marketing.

HJ

Zombies are popular right now, so marketing types are cashing in on it. The History channel just did a two-hour special on surviving Zombies before Halloween which incidentally featured another preparedness forum I frequent, Zombie Squad. If the movies are popular, and there's a lot of pop culture interest, why not apply the label to the product you want to move?

It is definitely a turnoff for me. The whole concept is utterly stupid. Anyone who uses this in promoting their products gets a minus 10 (at least).

Did you see the green handle with (blood?) streaks on the revolver? I'd laugh except that a high powered revolver like that is no joke. Personally, I think it borders on the irresponsible to market such a product. Firearms are serious business and shouldn't be treated as a toy or a joke. Sorry if my military background is coming to the fore here, but that's how I feel.

I hope people see the absurdity of a firearm designed to fight something that doesn't exist. I hope they don't sell well.

HJ

What? No Zombie Max in .45 GAP? What were they thinking?

Seriously, though, an absurd marketing campaign. That ammo box design would've looked right at home in the Halloween aisle at my local Target, right next to the children's costumes, fake vampire teeth, and plastic swords.

Does that revolver grip glow in the dark, too?

I think it is LED lit.

---

All this seems to make light of the seriousness of firearm ownership.

The Hutu's had their "cockroaches", for whom will be the "Zombies"?

I'm not sure how well this stuff will sell, but you've got to give credit to their marketing folks for trying something new. Folks around here should lighten up a little and try to enjoy the sillier things in life. It's good for your health.

lol.

HJ

Exactly.

HJ

Zombies rock. I've seen "bleed when hit Zombie targets" at a gun show and laffed for a bit.

What other life form (or non-life form to be correct) can you universally hate/shoot/decapitate/burn/drown/etc all in the name of saving humanity? Yeah yeah, some say it is only a "code" for hating (insert whoever here). Those people need lives.

Personally, I think most zombie movies are funnier than all heck. There was one with a Michael Jackson look-a-like doing the moon dance as it was electrocuted... no funnier zombie satire was ever made (not the movie with Ving Rhaynes either, altho that too had a dead MJ in it also).

Lighten up, it's an advertising trick.

Well said.

I must admit that I am surprised and dissappointed to see such holier-than-thou comments coming from people here.

Of course firearms are serious business. So is driving a car. Having children. Using a lawn mower. To call humorous advertising, whether it works on you or not, "irresponsible", "making light of the seriousness...", and calling for some people to not be allowed to own firearms because you don't like their choice of weapons or because they use the word "zombie" in humor, well, I just don't know how to respond to that kind of thinking (or lack thereof). I hope you take yourselves seriously. I certainly cannot. Talk about making a mountain out of a mole hill...

I'm on the fence about the firearms marketing but think the use of Zombie prep by FEMA to get people thinking about preparedness is a great idea. If it gets people thinking it's a good thing. If it gets them acting it's a great thing.

Yup, firearms are serious business, and I rather see other forms of preparedness take priority, but I don't think these firearms are PSAs, are they? Marketing is a creative business afterall.

For what it's worth, Zombie Squad collectively wasn't too impressed by this gimmick either. There are a lot of serious shooters over there, and the consensus was that this was just a shiny wrapper for mediocre product. At least there is a warning on the box that it's not a toy.

You obviously haven't seen Shaun of the Dead! I'd recommend that you drop everything and go rent the DVD.

Spoiler alert. At the end of the movie, they (normal) humans discover that they could put zombies to work at supermarkets and other megastores where employees are basically turned into mindless machines doing repetitive tasks anyway. So you can't universally hate zombies.

I'm unimpressed with the zombie ammo ad from Hornady. Any expert can tell you that it's the placement, not the caliber or even the variety of weapon, that matters. You have to destroy what remains of the brain. The zombie virus takes over the central nervous system and lets the rest of the body rot in the mean time. Its goal is to spread to another human being. Will Smith made a vaccine for us. That seems like the real solution.

DB

Originally Posted By: JBMat
What other life form (or non-life form to be correct) can you universally hate/shoot/decapitate/burn/drown/etc all in the name of saving humanity?

REMOVED
(dang it, that was my out-loud voice, gotta go take my medicine)
;~)
Come on guys have a little fun...

Google "Zombie" and "metaphor."

Never a fan of the zombie entertainment genre, when I first noticed zombiedom creeping, so to speak, into preparedness discussions, I thought it denigrated a serious subject. But now I can see how referring to zombies in preparedness is a way for some people to deflect with humor any notion that they are one of the paranoid survivalist types.

So if zombie-speak is what it takes for some people to discuss being prepared for natural or unnatural disasters, fine. If it draws consumers to product advertising, fine and dandy.

The federal Centers for Disease Controls and Prevention determined that zombie-speak was useful for disseminating its messages of preparedness.

Something sweet to help the medicine go down.

http://www.bt.cdc.gov/socialmedia/zombies_blog.asp


http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/bl...l-be-ready.html

"A zombie is a stand-in for anything we fear: pandemic, racism, societal change, depersonalization of humanity, pervasive threat and how this threat affects people. It's the core of drama and a never-ending blank canvas."


1950s sci-fi films have long been seen as reflective of that era's anxieties over nuclear proliferation and c o m m u n i s m. 1951's "The Day the Earth Stood Still" is among my favorites. Perhaps that classic should be re-made a third time -- with EMP as the dramatic catalyst.

http://www.filmsite.org/50sintro5.html

Science fiction films, horror films, and fantasy films (flavored with Cold War paranoia) flourished and dominated the box-office hits of the early to mid-50s (sometimes called the "Monster Movie" decade), when aliens were equated with C o m m u n i s t fears (due to the McCarthy Era's Soviet witch hunt).

I would prefer to not have to lock this thread. Let's work on being a bit more polite when we disagree.



chaosmagnet

Well said......

Bing -

I've seen Shaun only about 25 times (almost as many as the Holy Grail) and forgot the use of Z's as menial labor. As penance I'll watch it again tonite after DW watches the new Harry Potter.

But I will repeat my idea that you can hate Z's, as currently there are no unhuman rights groups to lobby for them. If some of you have time, maybe you can form one. I'll join.

totally tongue in cheek

JB

... not to mention the Z's that work at DMV

As for the ammo -- whatever, looks like some of their other ammo lines packaged for Halloween. I won't be carrying any in my BOB.

?

While most posts in this thread have been fine, there have been one or two that could have used some improved politeness.


chaosmagnet

Twinkly vampires?
-Blast

Dang! What kind of ammo do I use for that? lol.

Yeesh. I'm really dragging down the forum now. How about we start a thread on prepping for something real? What's the best way to strap down furniture so it can't shift during an earthquake. Yes, you guys in the mid-west get them too, so don't say "it's a California problem."

HJ

It isn't a joke but it is childish. I told my wholesalers that their credability was at issue. I cannot think of any industry such as mine or this forum that benefits from including the Z word in their ads, on their store front or on any products that are shelved in their store.

Well, since the CDC did it first, I'm sure they felt it was OK to do it.