The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: ericire12 on July 15, 2010, 09:25:33 AM
-
In Kalifornistan :o
http://www.bakersfield.com/news/business/economy/x1685665747/Solar-system-promotion-seeks-to-tap-interest-in-guns
A local solar company has come up with an unusual marketing promotion -- buy a solar electric system, get a free gun.
That's right. A gun. Or at least, a voucher for one worth up to $400.
"There's not a lot of overlap between the green, eco-friendly community and the conservative gun-rights community, so we thought this was a way we could potentially reach a market we don't usually get to talk to," said Scott Ryan, general manager of Bland Solar and Air Inc., a Bakersfield company that sells solar power systems, as well as heating and cooling systems.
The promotion began in the spring and will continue at least through the end of the summer, Ryan said. Two months into it, there have been "a half dozen or so" takers.
"I've had a lot of inquiries, and people are definitely taking notice," Ryan said.
If you don't want a gun, you don't have to get one. Bear Mountain Sports, the vendor Bland is using to provide the guns, also sells camping equipment and other merchandise. Or if that doesn't interest you, Bland will knock $400 off the cost of the system, which typically runs from $10,000 to $15,000, depending on size and the amount of power it generates.
Jim Ryan (no relation to the manager), recently had a 5-kilowatt system installed and got a voucher, although he hasn't redeemed it yet.
"My daughter is a newly licensed lawyer who has given me nothing but grief over it," he said, chuckling.
Customer Ryan, 63, said he'd been thinking of getting a solar electric system, anyway, to decrease monthly expenses as he prepares for retirement.
And he and his wife already own some firearms, so gun ownership isn't new to them.
"I said, 'Well, if I'm going to be getting solar, anyway, might as well get a free gun out of it,'" he said. "I'll probably get another Springfield. We've already got one, and it's a good little gun."
The customer is thrilled with his new solar power, too, by the way. His bill last month was $4.12, down from a monthly average of $390 and as high as $750 on hot summer days or when "the wife is running her Christmas lights."
The Bakersfield Police Department didn't return a telephone call seeking comment, but when Sheriff Donny Youngblood was told of the promotion, he laughed and said, "Cool."
"You have to go through a criminal background check to get a gun, anyway, so whether it's your $400 or somebody else's, I don't have any issues with it," the sheriff said.
Neither does the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, the main backer of the 1993 law that mandated more thorough background checks of would-be gun buyers.
"As long as the buyers are checked out, we leave it to vendors to decide whether that's good marketing or not," said spokesman Peter Hamm. "The question for them is, in a place like California, do you risk turning off as many people as you attract?"
The Central Valley is politically a lot more conservative than, say, Los Angeles or the Bay Area, and obviously that's Bland's read on the community, said Rex Kovacevich, a marketing professor at the University of Southern California.
He nevertheless called the gun promotion a risky maneuver.
"They've picked sort of an emotional incentive, one of those things that people are going to react to very strongly one way or the other," Kovacevich said.
-
The Bakersfield Police Department didn't return a telephone call seeking comment, but when Sheriff Donny Youngblood was told of the promotion, he laughed and said, "Cool."
"You have to go through a criminal background check to get a gun, anyway, so whether it's your $400 or somebody else's, I don't have any issues with it," the sheriff said.
8) I like that sherriff.
-
Sounds like Sheriff Youngblood may be pricing a solar system ;D
-
I wish a Florida company would do this promo, we already did the solar hot water set-up and have been considering going all in. Not that $400 makes that big of a difference but I would know who I'd like to do business with.
-
"The customer is thrilled with his new solar power, too, by the way. His bill last month was $4.12, down from a monthly average of $390 and as high as $750 on hot summer days or when "the wife is running her Christmas lights.""
Ouch! Yet another reason not to live in the PROK.
-
"The customer is thrilled with his new solar power, too, by the way. His bill last month was $4.12, down from a monthly average of $390 and as high as $750 on hot summer days or when "the wife is running her Christmas lights.""
Ouch! Yet another reason not to live in the PROK.
But .gov will PAY YOU to put in solar! It makes very little sense here, but in the communist states the financials work (since you get tax money to do it)