Syndicate
Related Websites
Our Sunday service is at 10:00 AM.
View Map | Learn More
Maker Of Red Ryder BB Gun Shuns Publicity by Melissa Nelson
Posted by Ed and Lois
The Red Ryder BB gun is “the Holy Grail of Christmas gifts,” according to young Ralphie Parker, who pines for one in the movie A Christmas Story. But Daisy Outdoor Products, which makes the Red Ryder, is shying away from any publicity that represents the gun as a toy.
The gun, named for the comic strip cowboy Red Ryder, remained a favorite among children for decades and was the inspiration for 1983’s A Christmas Story, about a young boy in the 1940s who longs for “an official Red Ryder, carbine action, 200-shot, Range Model air rifle with a compass on the stock and this thing which tells time.”
In the movie, little Ralphie dubs the gun “the Holy Grail of Christmas gifts” but is admonished by numerous adults (his mother, his teacher, even a department store Santa) that “you’ll shoot your eye out!”
Toy consultant Chris Byrne isn’t surprised that Daisy doesn’t boast about the gun’s popularity.
“They are a classic American brand, but anytime you talk about selling guns to kids in today’s society, they are pariah,” he said.
Full Post http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/2004-12-22-red-ryder_x.htm