Zombie Marketing...

We've recently been inundated with a number of "Zombie" gun products.  Ranging from ammunition purportedly intended to have increased effectiveness on zombies to cleaning kits with "Zombie" attached for no other reason than to take advantage of the fad.

That is exactly what the Zombie product lines are, a fad.  A fad based on what began as a joke about having to repel hoards of the living dead.  Those living dead were then equated to the mindless, unprepared, criminals who will leave the cities in the event of a natural or man-made disaster and try to force their desires on people in the places to which circumstance has directed them.  Over the period of evolution of the meme, certain physical characteristics have been popularly applied to the subject matter and the marketeers have adroitly identified and utilized them to sell the goods.  In one 'case' the color of the ballistic tip was the only change to ammunition other than the packaging to make it zombie ready.

I don't know what exactly this says about us, that is, Americans.  It seems to point to a streak of shallow, obsession with meaningless trivialities.  On the other hand, it demonstrates an ability to aggressively exploit opportunities.

I'm not a fan of the zombie stuff although much of it is as effective as the products from which it was 'developed'.  While it is all perfectly usable, I think it feeds a perception of the shooter/hunter (and most folks think of the two as one and the same) as a child-like, irresponsible character given to Walter Mitty fantasy and I don't think that improves the perception of us that some people have.  I do like products such as Hornady's Critical Defense ammunition because I believe the name supports the concept of the thoughtful, careful gun owner.  As a group, we need more of that.