New York, New York –-(Ammoland.com)- The New York-based Empire State Consumer Project has asked the Hasbro Board of Directors to stop producing “assault-style” Nerf guns.
One of the Nerf blasters the group is targeting is the Ultra One. It is a drum fed toy gun holding 25 soft darts. Empire State Consumer Project Director Carol Chittenden thinks that parents that buy these toy guns are bad examples for their kids.
“It’s a matter of this being a very vulnerable consumer group. Children buy what they see, and we’re not sure this is driven by market demand for assault weapon toys by children or the industry creating the demand,” said Chittenden.
One of the main issues the group has with Hasbro is a commercial that shows a child’s family giving him bigger and bigger Nerf blasters until the child’s Grandmother shows up and gives him the Ultra One. The family is impressed with the Nerf gun and the commercial ends.
The commercial is comical, but the group thinks it is horrifying that Hasbro is using comedy to sell its “machine gun.” The consumer group plays on emotions by trying to guilt the toy company to stop selling the Nerf gun. The Empire State Consumer Project brings up mass shootings at schools and tries to tie them into Nerf products.
“How does promoting play with huge automatic weapons create joy, creativity and connection around the world, and across generations, and make the world a better place for children? ” The group asked the Hasbro Board of Directors in the letter.
The Empire State Consumer Project asked Hasbro, with a straight face, who the child will be shooting “with his huge cache of assault weapons.” They want the toy company to make nerf products for a child’s “peace-filled imaginations.” The group also states that children don’t really like Nerf guns, but Hasbro, through their advertising, is pressuring the kids into playing with them.
According to the Empire State Consumer Project, children do not want Nerf guns because they are afraid of school shootings. The organization doesn’t supply any data for their accusation, but it does call into question any data that Hasbro has determined from their internal marketing studies.
Toy companies like Hasbro spend millions of dollars into researching product viability. They are in business to make money. If children didn’t want Nerf guns or if parents were not willing to purchase them, they would not be selling them. Parents vote with their pocketbooks.
The Empire State Consumer Project seems to know that there is a massive market for Nerf Guns that they cannot defeat. It is a rite of passage for a lot of dads and their kids. The group appears to be trying to guilt the toy giant into stop selling their very successful and iconic toy line.
The consumer rights group goes even farther and accuses Hasbro of praying on the “most vulnerable group of consumers.” They also say that the toy company is launching an assault on children’s “dignity and their worth as human beings.”
Being a parent, I can tell you that kids love Nerf Blasters and do not require manipulation to want toy guns. I spoke to my six-year-old son Matthew about why he likes Nerf guns and if he liked them because of the Hasbro commercial.
“The commercial is stupid,” Matthew told me, “But it looks fun to play with.”
About John Crump
John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. He is the former CEO of Veritas Firearms, LLC and is the co-host of The Patriot News Podcast which can be found at www.blogtalkradio.com/patriotnews. John has written extensively on the patriot movement including 3%’ers, Oath Keepers, and Militias. In addition to the Patriot movement, John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and is currently working on a book on leftist deplatforming methods and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, on Facebook at realjohncrump, or at www.crumpy.com.
