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SHOT Show 2012: The Year of the Zombie
Core77 isn't the only one eager to help you prepare for the end of days, many exhibitors here at the 2012 SHOT Show are marketing gear specifically towards would-be zombie hunters. From Armageddon cleaning kits to bayonet-fitted anti-zombie rifles, this SHOT Show is all about the undead.
Reporting by Barbara EldredgeAccording to armorer DoubleStar Corp, "In a post-apocalyptic world, red dots and holographic sights will not be a viable solution. Technology is dead, and the undead are coming after you. You aren't afraid. You're prepared. Armed with your DSC Zombie Slayer, the mobs of the undead will meet their match." This rifle is easy to shoot and its attachable bayonet is sure to come in handy when the world's ammo runs out.
Otis Zombie Cleaning SystemOtis Technologies recently launched its Zombie Cleaning System for 5.56mm rifles, 9mm, .40 &.45 caliber pistols, and 12-gauge shotguns. Suppressing a chuckle, one fella at Otis told me that it is important to keep one's firearms clean and ever-ready for the apocalypse.
Gerber's Apocalypse Kit, as seen on AMC's Walking Dead
Gerber has even teamed up with the hit TV show Walking Dead to produce their sold-out Apocalypse Kit. The kit's canvas roll bag contains two styles of Gator Machete, a Camp Axe, Parang (the #1 selling product on Gerber's website), and three styles of knives. Gerber's senior brand manager Jason Michelotti told me that their zombie marketing has "had a huge impact on our business and enabled us to reach a new consumer. It has enabled us to stress the attributes of preparedness and survival." In addition to all of their zombie fighting tools, at the Gerber booth, you can kill a real live zombie! Well, you can pretend to kill one, anyway.
There are also an array of zombie-themed targets. In addition to zombie-printed paper targets, Zombie Industries makes a gruesome-looking manikin zombie target that bleeds when hit. They were quite popular at the range yesterday.
So what's the deal? Why are people suddenly so interested in killing zombies? My theory is that some people are uncomfortable with the implications of firing at human-shaped targets. Zombies are human shaped without being human. Framing gun practice as zombie-killing practice brings a level of fantasy and whimsy to the firing range that goes beyond playing Rambo. I ran my idea past Brant Fitzgerald, a video game designer at Undead Labs (they're gearing up to launch the zombie-themed game Class3). He gave it some thought. "For me growing up, using guns was a way to put food on the table," he said. "So many video games now put guns in the hands of twelve year olds and send the message that killing people is a way to have fun. In our game [Class3] you aren't allowed to kill people, only zombies."
What do you think? Are you more likely to go to the range if your target is an emissary of the undead?
More from the SHOT Show 2012:
» Introduction
» First Impressions on the Slide Fire
» The Year of the Zombie
» Concealed Carry
» Kriss Systems' Vector Submachine Gun
» APO's Custom Firearms
Barbara Eldredge is a design writer and researcher living in New York City. An MFA candidate in SVA's Design Criticism program, Eldredge has spent the past year exploring the relationship between design, guns, museums and morality for her forthcoming master's thesis.
Gerber has even teamed up with the hit TV show Walking Dead to produce their sold-out Apocalypse Kit. The kit's canvas roll bag contains two styles of Gator Machete, a Camp Axe, Parang (the #1 selling product on Gerber's website), and three styles of knives. Gerber's senior brand manager Jason Michelotti told me that their zombie marketing has "had a huge impact on our business and enabled us to reach a new consumer. It has enabled us to stress the attributes of preparedness and survival." In addition to all of their zombie fighting tools, at the Gerber booth, you can kill a real live zombie! Well, you can pretend to kill one, anyway.
There are also an array of zombie-themed targets. In addition to zombie-printed paper targets, Zombie Industries makes a gruesome-looking manikin zombie target that bleeds when hit. They were quite popular at the range yesterday.
What do you think? Are you more likely to go to the range if your target is an emissary of the undead?
More from the SHOT Show 2012:
» Introduction
» First Impressions on the Slide Fire
» The Year of the Zombie
» Concealed Carry
» Kriss Systems' Vector Submachine Gun
» APO's Custom Firearms
Barbara Eldredge is a design writer and researcher living in New York City. An MFA candidate in SVA's Design Criticism program, Eldredge has spent the past year exploring the relationship between design, guns, museums and morality for her forthcoming master's thesis.-
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Comments
Zombie targets do make it easier to shoot at human-like targets, maybe even fun. However, shouldn't guns be taken seriously? Not as an object to have fun with. Also, if you are having trouble with shooting at human-like targets (to practice for self defense, I assume) because they are too human, what will happen when you are in a situation with a real, living, and breathing human staring at you up the barrel of your gun? If you think an inanimate object can be too human, will you ever be mentally ready to shoot at a live person in a highly stressful environment?
From the preparedness point of view, it is nice that more people are introduced to the idea. However, I feel that people buy these more as a joke(or because they look cool) than as serious survival tools and the introduction to survival training doesn't go beyond going outside and hacking at some tree branches to see how much damage you can do... That is if it ever comes to going outside.
I really hope I am wrong on these points and people who buy these legitimately get into survival and preparedness as a result, but I still think that this is an obnoxious marketing trend that turns guns and survival into a joke just to sell more guns and cutting tools.