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Guns for girls

The idea of using the colour pink as a marketing tool to entice women to buy, well, anything, is a trick that’s been around for a long time. There are shops out there which specialise in selling pink things. Recent years have seen items which would stereotypically be associated with the male consumer, such as cars and games consoles, coloured like Mr Kipling’s Fondant Fancies in order to bring in the female market. The latest move as part of this trend has come from the hunting grounds of Wisconsin - pink guns.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel says the Gander Mountain hunting store in Waukesha stocks several pink guns to encourage girls to get into shooting. They include a Remington 20-gauge shotgun with a pink and black stock emblazoned with the slogan: “Shoot like a girl if you can!”

Store manager Chris Hanson said the guns were aimed, so to speak, at girls and women interested in hunting. He said the shotgun, and a rifle with a bright pink stock, were both selling well.

Jim Astle, owner of Jim’s Gun Supply, has been coating guns in pink and other colours for four years. His 12-year-old daughter owns a pink camouflage shotgun. Jim said: “Females want to shoot guns, but they want them to look pretty, too. Guys could give a rat’s butt what their gun looks like.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .