Bushmaster Firearms, Your Man Card Is Revoked
When Adam Lanza shot dozens of people at Sandy Hook Elementary last Friday, he used a military-style Bushmaster .223 rifle. As America debates whether such weapons even have a place in our society, Bushmaster is running a hilarious ad campaign.
Bushmaster rifles, you see, make you a real man. That is why acquiring a Bushmaster rifle will get you your "Man Card Reissued," as you can see in this ad. (The ad agency responsible for this campaign is Oklahoma-based Brothers Co.) Bushmaster even has a web site, Bushmaster.com/mancard, where you can put in your friends' name and send them a comical note about why their Man Card is being revoked. Ever since the massacre in Newtown, the site has been subjected to a running list of sometimes furious and sometimes mordantly funny hijackings of its Man Card-generating system. The site still appears to be working.
Bushmaster has been running this "Man Card" campaign for more than two years. It should not have taken a mass shooting for us all to realize that the connection between guns and masculinity is ridiculous. The fact that gun companies are still pimping that false connection to attract buyers speaks for itself.
Bushmaster, your man card is revoked.