Airsoft Radio ads

AGB_Ghost

I was driving home today and I heard an add on Nova.FM about MIA and airsoft and it ranted on about Assault Rifles SMG's etc and how its the biggest growing sport in Europe and I was wondering did anyone else hear it and what do you think, do you think Airsoft is becoming a more open and talked about sport than being kept in the grey area that it was in a good while back

Puding

were kinda legally safe, but by no means are we main stream or will we ever be, and i;ve never seen anything solid for this fastest growing sport thing, but hay it sounds good and that is what an advert is for and what mia does well

evilrobotshane

AGB_Ghost wrote: »

the biggest growing sport in Europe

I hate that claim. I've long since lost count of the number of activities that have made similar claims and I've no idea what they're basing it on - how do you even count something like that? Maybe that's why everyone claims it, because nobody can disprove it. It's crap though. There's lots of things to recommend airsoft that aren't just made up.

Stealthirl

all ill say is that out of all the shops around the only 4 i go to are hobby,eirsoft,airsoft combat solutions and Airsofteire.

iv been to most others on the east cost and find those 4 are the frendlyist and most helpfull of the lot and 2 have very good tecs from my experance with them

airsoftdes

advertising is essential for every business to be successful if it's on a radio, paper, truck does it really matter.
The ads we see are not putting this sport at risk

and yes guns are great that why we as airsofters buy them

Witcher

airsoftdes wrote: »

advertising is essential for every business to be successful if it's on a radio, paper, truck does it really matter.
The ads we see are not putting this sport at risk

and yes guns are great that why we as airsofters buy them

I think Gerrowadat has an issue with advertising guns as the only thing that matters in airsoft, airsofters know different but "Horse" and "Whacker" listening to "de choones" on the radio hearing about guns this guns that isn't what we want. That's the issue with advertising it, most scumbags are ignorant to the sports existence, telling them they can buy guns over the counter is hardly a goal we want to achieve.

Leftyflip

Blay wrote: »

I think Gerrowadat has an issue with advertising guns as the only thing that matters in airsoft, airsofters know different but "Horse" and "Whacker" listening to "de choones" on the radio hearing about guns this guns that isn't what we want. That's the issue with advertising it, most scumbags are ignorant to the sports existence, telling them they can buy guns over the counter is hardly a goal we want to achieve.

Eirsoft "slingbackeh" incident spring to mind there Blay? :P

airsoftdes

so what' should they not advertise then because of a few scumbags and it would be a few and when they get to a shop they will see that they are only aegs

as always any thread starting with mia always has its few who try to trash it

Witcher

airsoftdes wrote: »

so what' should they not advertise then because of a few scumbags and it would be a few and when they get to a shop they will see that they are only aegs

as always any thread starting with mia always has its few who try to trash it

They should advertise in approriate mediums(military shows etc.) to people who would be interested in the actual sport not just "de gunz"..I'm pretty sure scumbags wouldnt care they're aegs, idiots would probably fire them out of a car at pedestrians:rolleyes:

se conman

I am asking this because I have never seen or heard their ads , but if MIA have being advertising using different types of media on a number of occasions , what have been the (factual) negative results to Irish airsoft ?

airsoftdes

not all players out there found out about airsoft in military shows etc

i found out about it on the radio when go tac opened first and there was uproar in bray over it

Witcher

airsoftdes wrote: »

not all players out there found out about airsoft in military shows etc

i found out about it on the radio when go tac opened first and there was uproar in bray over it

That's great but how many others of questionable morals found out about it also?

If I remember correctly one of the concerns for the DOJ when they met with the IAA was the relatively easy availability of airsofts over the counter and they cited specific incidents in which the Gardai said they had been used. I just think mainstream advertisement isn't the way to go, ignorance is bliss in this country.

Lemming

I haven't heard the ad in question, but I'd be wary of a radio ad for one reason; there's no concept of context; the most prominent word that one would hear is "gun".

That same argument can be made about any sort of media advertising, and anyone who wants to engineer a reason to beat the game with a stick can twist said advertising quite easily, but .... responsible print media can (and does) mitigate this in several ways as we can see by way of AI and Take Aim magazines. Similarly, the only ever television advert * I've seen also mitigates the "gun" factor and provides context.

But a radio ad? IMO, itd be the weakest medium to advertise with from a perspective of giving a good impression.


* Tokyo Marui's 'first AEG' m16VN advert.

JonnyTwoCombs

Is this thread about using a particular medium to promote a business (which all Airsoft Retailers are) or a stick to beat one particular retailer with... :rolleyes:

Hivemind187

JonnyTwoCombs wrote: »

Is this thread about using a particular medium to promote a business (which all Airsoft Retailers are) or a stick to beat one particular retailer with... :rolleyes:

Ethically speaking no one is in the wrong here. The retailer has made the decision to advertise himself in a very public fashion, that makes him fair game for public scrutiny, criticism, satire, ridicule and comment.

The fact that it is this particular retailer who has made this decision is an intrinsic part of the discussion - especially considering the past behavior and motives of the operator, all of which are well documented despite the conspiracy theories and counter-propaganda coming out of his business.

Personally, I dont think radio is a great medium to be advertising airsoft. The vast, majority of listeners are drivers which means they are only half concentrating on the content of the spot which means what little context is wrapped around the piece will be severely diluted to the point where what stays in the brain is "Buy a gun without a license from MIA today!!".

The sad fact is that this kind of advertising specifically targets the creeps with their "No Fear" window labels skittering around housing estates looking for a "Glock like yer man on YouTube!" to wave at their mates like a ballistic penis enlargement.

Lemming

Hivemind187 wrote: »

The sad fact is that this kind of advertising specifically targets the creeps with their "No Fear" window labels skittering around housing estates looking for a "Glock like yer man on YouTube!" to wave at their mates like a ballistic penis enlargement.

I have visions of very bemused staff in Ms.Fantasias a) wondering where the f*ck all the interest in more 'experimental' sex amongst the skanger community is coming from, and b) p1ssed off that said skangers are constantly hitting on them whilst talking about penis enlargements and dildos shaped like glocks ...

God forbid they wander down the back area of the shop ... "No, that's not a restraint for tying up dealers that owe you money with. They'll t hink you're the Gimp"

I feel so dirty now. Cheers Hive

Inari

Thank you for the laugh Lemming!

Advertising on the radio...personally I'd have thought that would be Airsoft Site territory as opposed to retailers. My logic is the sites are portrayed as the sport, the part that the DOJ and Joe Duffy's don't argue against. It's the Retailers where any Joe Soap can buy a gun and hold up an armoured car with his ultra realistic gun.

I'd have figured TV would have been the medium of choice for a business with as much money behind them as MIA have. They are an Airsoft Harvey Norman's effectively. I'm not going to get into personal opinions here.

Print ads, or any ads with a visual medium are far more effective and contextualising.

There was a good question asked though, by Seconman (sorry if I spelled the username wrong) - is there any solid evidence of bad ju-ju because of the actions of the minority with specific regard to Airsoft? I know about that bout with Joe Duffy, and with GoTac in Bray - but has there been much else? If not, I have no doubt that it's due to the careful, tactical and methodical game played by the IAA and the majority of Irish Airsofters.

Airsoft Reloded

I think they should advertise in every medium they can and fair play to them.

They are a business and don't hide the fact that they are trying (and succeeding) in making a profit. That is the point of business, as for the question of whether we should go mainstream or not well obviously we should go mainstream, if you want good sites and shops then those businesses have to make money and to make money they need customers and for that they must advertise. Hiding in the shadows isn't good for business or the sport.

Witcher

Airsoft Reloded wrote: »

That is the point of business, as for the question of whether we should go mainstream or not well obviously we should go mainstream, if you want good sites and shops then those businesses have to make money and to make money they need customers and for that they must advertise. Hiding in the shadows isn't good for business or the sport.

Even real steel in Ireland isn't mainstream despite it being around longer, more people knowing about it and more people taking part in it. They also have shops/clubs etc riding on it, but they get on with it, grow naturally and still make money. There's still a phobia about guns in this country and that stops them going mainstream.

They don't go putting ads on the radio for shooting and "de gunz", as Puding said airsoft will never be mainstream..ever. It's a niche hobby/sport, we just have to live with it. There was a similar thread months ago on this and most agreed we will always be in the background.

Puding

Airsoft Reloded wrote: »

I think they should advertise in every medium they can and fair play to them.

They are a business and don't hide the fact that they are trying (and succeeding) in making a profit. That is the point of business, as for the question of whether we should go mainstream or not well obviously we should go mainstream, if you want good sites and shops then those businesses have to make money and to make money they need customers and for that they must advertise. Hiding in the shadows isn't good for business or the sport.

if we could be mainstream then all for that, but this type of advertising is not about that its about maximizing the impulse buying and the 'i want a gun' factor, it has very little to do with growing the hobby/sport outside of the sales

know im not going to say that is a bad thing, mia know there target audience they know there market and they make money, but it is not airsoft as in the hobby it is an upmarket gadget shop in a way, and its the mis information that comes along with this type of selling that gets my goat and i believe a lot of other peoples

business will make decisions to help themselves as after all they need to make money im just all causes of short term actions having long term repercussions

gerrowadat

Inari wrote: »

There was a good question asked though, by Seconman (sorry if I spelled the username wrong) - is there any solid evidence of bad ju-ju because of the actions of the minority with specific regard to Airsoft? I know about that bout with Joe Duffy, and with GoTac in Bray - but has there been much else? If not, I have no doubt that it's due to the careful, tactical and methodical game played by the IAA and the majority of Irish Airsofters.

Funnily enough, there was a thread on here a while back about "MIA Cork" putting ads in a local paper with pictures of guns, and Derek Talbot had to go on radio to disavow himself from it, and 'MIA Cork' disappeared soon after. I was on the IAA Committee at the time so was hearing all about it as it happened.

Of course, putting a SWAT team image on the side of a load of trucks from Colkar Logistics that I've seen driving in the centre of town, and putting out radio ads about EPIC GUNS for all and sundry is fine, no backtracking or double standards there.

airsoftdes: Everything I've said is true. Derek Talbot doesn't play airsoft, he's a businessman. He agreed with this assertion to me, in a meeting we had, I went and dug up the audio to verify, too. He's involved in several other businesses (I think it'd be bad form to name them because of their nature, but these posts are probably getting back to him so he knows himself). Over the course of my year on the IAA committee I heard everything under the sun about him, and ignored most of it. I'm as open-minded as the next guy. All I'm going on is my own, personal experience from talking to him (yes, in person, not from behind a keyboard), and my experience as a customer when just starting Airsoft (which is pretty much in line with hundreds of other stories I've heard).

gerrowadat

Puding wrote: »

if we could be mainstream then all for that, but this type of advertising is not about that its about maximizing the impulse buying and the 'i want a gun' factor, it has very little to do with growing the hobby/sport outside of the sales

know im not going to say that is a bad thing, mia know there target audience they know there market and they make money, but it is not airsoft as in the hobby it is an upmarket gadget shop in a way, and its the mis information that comes along with this type of selling that gets my goat and i believe a lot of other peoples

business will make decisions to help themselves as after all they need to make money im just all causes of short term actions having long term repercussions

It's a basic rule of advertising -- if you're not making enough money off your customer base, expend it. The way the industry is right now, I'm not a bit surprised that somebody finally broke down and put the industry on the line by last-ditch casting the BUY GUNS THEY'RE GREAT line to the four winds. Not a bit surprised at who it was tbh.

Lemming

I'd like to touch back on this "mainstream" notion for a moment. To put it all in context, I'd like to point everyone over to our neighbour - the UK - which has had airsoft around for close to twenty years, with a player base and site number in excess of our own by some margin. Now for the important bit, after twenty years ..... Airsoft is not mainstream.

Lets look at Sweden, a country where airsoft is well known due to media profiling; airsoft is not mainstream.

France? Not mainstream.

Belgium? Not mainstream.

Germany? Anyone fancy .5j semi-auto only?

etc. etc. etc.

What makes anyone think that Ireland is any different in that regard? By all means, the point of business is to make money, and to do that you need to grow your customer base. But some common sense would go wonders where you risk bringing another bout of media bashing (and worse, wagon-jumping politicians) down upon the very base that you're trying to conduct business within.

airsoftdes

When i happened to start airsoft the only shops and sites were

go tac,mia and eirsoft
fingal,hrta,drogheda and gtac

now there are a ****e load of both (to many shops in my opinion)

so as far as this "mainstream" talk is concerned i believe airsoft as a sport/hobby
is growing rapidly look at the numbers at some sites 100+

alot of this business is due to different sorts of advertising and im sure all the sites are grateful for this and im sure all airsoft shops will somehow benefit from the ad
just wondering what would clarify airsoft or any sport as mainstream

Airsoft Reloded

Puding wrote: »

if we could be mainstream then all for that, but this type of advertising is not about that its about maximizing the impulse buying and the 'i want a gun' factor, it has very little to do with growing the hobby/sport outside of the sales

Has anyone heard the add, is it marketed toward that sort?

Lemming wrote: »

I'd like to touch back on this "mainstream" notion for a moment. To put it all in context, I'd like to point everyone over to our neighbour - the UK - which has had airsoft around for close to twenty years, with a player base and site number in excess of our own by some margin. Now for the important bit, after twenty years ..... Airsoft is not mainstream.

Lets look at Sweden, a country where airsoft is well known due to media profiling; airsoft is not mainstream.

France? Not mainstream.

Belgium? Not mainstream.

Germany? Anyone fancy .5j semi-auto only?

etc. etc. etc.

What makes anyone think that Ireland is any different in that regard?

By mainstream I don't mean the following football has, I just mean as known or better known than paintball

TNTQ

Finally, a thread worth reading

senordingdong

Hmmm...I would be abhorently against advertising airsoft to a broader audience, but one thing that's got me pondering is that usually when the media have a **** fit involoving airsoft, it's usually becasue of a visual provocation.
i.e. they saw someone with a gun, saw an ad for guns in the paper, or walked past an airsoft shop and thought they had taken a detour via Kahbul.

But this is where the radio medium fails.
If it's an audio ad then then surely alot of the airsoft shock factor is lost?
Or is the ad actually as bad as some people have described? (BUY DEADLY GUNZZZ FROM UZ WHA!?!?)

And on the other hand, the ad can't be of any use to the greater pleb population because they can't see the 'deadly glocks'.
So is it really going to cause them to run out and buy one?

Lemming

Airsoft Reloded wrote: »

By mainstream I don't mean the following football has, I just mean as known or better known than paintball

So about the same as airsoft in Sweden is then. And in any case, paintball isn't mainstream. Doubt me? Ask a paintballer how much effort they've gone to in order to get their own marker, if they can get one at all. Recognition does not bring main-stream, it just means that people don't look at you twice like you have an alien head when you say "airsoft". Most people still haven't a clue what paintball involves other than that it's harmless because "de guns shoot paint", and because most people will never play paintball in their lives.

airsoftdes wrote: »

When i happened to start airsoft the only shops and sites were

go tac,mia and eirsoft
fingal,hrta,drogheda and gtac

When I started, there was one site; HRTA. And no shops in Ireland, period.

so as far as this "mainstream" talk is concerned i believe airsoft as a sport/hobby is growing rapidly look at the numbers at some sites 100+

I would be less interested in the number of sites/retailers and more the attendance numbers on average per site as an indicator of how well the game is doing, growth wise. We've seen more than a few sites and retailers shut up shop over the last six months, so jumping up and down saying there's 100+ sites/retailers isn't a valid argument.

alot of this business is due to different sorts of advertising and im sure all the sites are grateful for this and im sure all airsoft shops will somehow benefit from the ad just wondering what would clarify airsoft or any sport as mainstream

Why, if I were either a retailer or a site, would I be grateful for having a politician or the local Gardai superintendent, or a bunch of local NIMBY's turn up demanding I shut up shop on foot of someone else being foolish?

As for 'mainstream', mainstream would not be having to worry about advertising bringing in the red-top brigade and any haif-wit gombeen politician and sorry hack excuse for a journalist looking for a sensationalist story. Mainstream would have you not having to consider how you explain what airsoft is to people, or whether you should start sweating buckets because of the random Garda checkpoint on your way to a skirmish site. Mainstream is not having a battle with customs/Garda ballistics over mundane things like springs and webbing (yes, both have seen the inside of the ballistics office ... )

OddysAirsoft

I think people on here should go out and play more and stop chairsofting instead!

Lemming

FRUoddy wrote: »

I think people on here should go out and play more and stop chairsofting instead!

You first. Know any sites open at 9.25pm on a Sunday then?

Puding

FRUoddy wrote: »

I think people on here should go out and play more and stop chairsofting instead!

do you want to add anything constructive to the conversation? the tread so far has been rather interesting, with a lot of the content provided by very active airsofters i do not see how your remarks are remotely valid