Shockingly Bad Publicity: Spyderco Knife Used to Desecrate Flag

cerulean

cerulean

Joined
May 26, 1999
Messages
1,964
Geez... talk about bad publicity.
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This afternoon I saw a commercial on TV that was paid for by the Hunting & Shooting Sports Heritage Fund. The commercial was narrated by Martin Sheen, who delivered a pro-gun monologue over images of a guy cutting up an American flag.

The theme of the monologue was that gun control forces are ripping America apart. This idea was illustrated in the images, which showed an evil, corporate-type guy laying the flag on a table and then dissecting it with a variety of edged tools.

Unfortunately, one of the tools he reached for was a Spyderco!

I only saw the commercial once, so I couldn't quite make out the model, although I'm certain it was SS handled. I reckon it was a Worker but I can't be sure. Maybe someone else can get a better look at it.

They have the whole commercial available at www.hsshf.org . Unfortunately, I only saw it there as a Quick Time pop-up and the resolution was so bad that I could barely make out what was going on.

Hannible Lecter using Spyderco knives was bad enough. Now some guy is using them to desecrate the flag?
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What next?!
 
What next? You thought THAT was bad???

The other day I was dusting off some recorded video tapes I had forgotten existed. In one of them I observed that I had recorded the movie "Exposure" (1991) with Peter Coyote and Amanda Pays, among others. It's an ok movie about a photographer on a job in South America. To make a long story short, girlfriend is an archeologist and visits him, both get assaulted and almost killed by knife-wielding bandits in search of a stolen disk, and the photographer is determined to learn street-knife combat from a per-sev(perforation-sever) guy he had saved earlier from certain death.

Cool fixed knives presented during the movie, ok knife-combat scenes, the movie is kinda average.

HOWEVER, one of the assassins murdered a person from his organization with...you guessed it, a Spyderco! The victim in question was sleeping, and the guy took out an SS Spydie (I believe an Endura???) and introduces it into the guy's heart. They even show that scene in detail, ugh! The scene cuts to the murderer washing off the blood from his Spydie, which can be seen clearly. Very gruesome scene, to say the least.

Of course, I strongly believe that knives are not "evil" per se, just the person who wields them and their intentions.

-Flood
 
Unfortunately, I still haven't seen "Exposure". I've been meaning to rent it for years, but I keep forgetting.

Come to think of it though, there are a lot of movies with disturbing Spyderco scenes. "Fight Club" and "Strange Days" are two good movies that come to mind.

Of course, knives are always portrayed poorly in the media, but it seems like Spydercos especially get portrayed as sinister weapons. I don't remember ever seeing a Benchmade used as an evil weapon in a movie, novel, or commercial, but I've seen plenty of Spydercos.

Maybe I'm just more aware of Spyderco knives so I notice them more in the movies. Or, it could be that directors use Spyderco knives more because they have a very distinctive look. Or, it could be that Spyderco just has bad luck in product placement.
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That's really mean!
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Maybe, just maybe the propman had so much hatred/respect for Spydies, he had to use one to rip off the flag. I think of it as a black joke..

Sam

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have spydies
will travel...
 
Yeah, well, at least we still live in a country where it's legal to cut up the flag, if you should want to. Note: I am not condoning this action, merely expressing my support for freedom of speech.
 
I received a copy of the commercial from the producer. Spyderco has always been strong in the gun industry. Probably because we try our make our knives to provide reliable performance, an important value in the gun industry.

I believe that the flag was being slowly and carefully taken apart to illustrate the "erosion of our American rights" piece by piece as the gun industry is being attacked (sued) by localitlies.

I believe the Clipit was being used by the "Good" guy in the commercial. I didn't take it negatively. I hope most don't or the commercial would not have achieved its goal.

sal
 
Something does not seem right here. I can't imagine Martin Sheen doing a a PRO gun commercial. He's as far left as they come.

phantom4

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who dares, wins


 
If you don't want to view the commercial, click here to just listen.

Tell me that's not Martin Sheen!
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[This message has been edited by cerulean (edited 08-22-2000).]
 
The voice on the commercial isn't Martin Sheen, it's his brother. Martin is accusing the NSSF(National Shooting Sports Foundation, the people who made the commercial) of "voice identity theft." He is now going to do an anti-gun commercial for Handgun-Control, Inc and may possibly sue NSSF for "voice identity theft."
 
"Pro-gun ad steams Sheen"

By Mike Soraghan
Denver Post Washington Bureau

August 23, 2000 - WASHINGTON - Move over, Charlton Heston, there's a new square-jawed actor jumping into the gun debate.

Martin Sheen, who's not an elected official but plays the president on TV, has offered to narrate a television advertisement critical of the gun industry.

He's jumping into the firearms fray because of a family feud. Sheen reportedly is irked that the gun industry hired his brother, Joe Estevez, to do the voice-over for a television ad campaign lashing out at mayors who are suing gunmakers. Since the voice sounds like his, Sheen volunteered to do a rebuttal to set the record straight, said Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Andrew Cuomo.

In real life, Sheen is a liberal activist far to the left of the Democratic President Josiah Bartlet he plays on NBC's "The West Wing."

He would be unlikely to support the pro-gun agenda of the Heritage and Shooting Sports Fund, which is spending nearly $10 million on the ad campaign.

The ad, which aired on CNN during the Democratic and Republican national conventions, shows a man in shirt sleeves ripping the stars and stripes off the flag. It displays the names of several gun companies, including Colt, Remington and Winchester.

"We are being blamed by bigcity mayors whose greedy lawyers are using your tax dollars to sue us for criminals they won't prosecute," Estevez says in the ad.

More than 30 cities have joined in a lawsuit against the gunmakers, trying to get them to agree to a set of safety conditions. The Colorado legislature and Gov. Bill Owens have banned such suits by Colorado cities or residents.

Cuomo and several mayors say the ad is a "personal attack" and are demanding equal time for their rebuttal. If CNN and broadcasters won't air it, they say they'll complain to the Federal Communications Commission. The president of the gun group calls that ridiculous.

"Does that mean Miller should get free time if Budweiser runs an ad?" said fund president Robert Delfay. The fund is affiliated with the National Shooting Sports Foundation, but not with the National Rifle Association, led by Heston.

Delfay denied that his group wanted people to think that Sheen was speaking for it. He said his general counsel Lawrence Keane was mistaken last week when he told the New York Daily News, "We picked the voice on purpose."

"We did not set out by any means to find a sound-alike for Mr. Sheen," Delfay said.

Estevez said there's no bad blood between him and his brother over the ad. "When this issue came up about a celebrity sound-alike, my ego was bruised a little," said Estevez, whose screen credits include 1997's "Bimbo Movie Bash" and the recently released "Green Diggity Dog."

"I'm a celebrity, too. And, as far as the voice goes, Martin and I have seven other brothers and we all pretty much sound the same."

http://www.denverpost.com/news/election/pol0823.htm

[This message has been edited by cerulean (edited 08-24-2000).]
 
I didn't know that cutting up or otherwise desercrating the flag was talking seems to be movement not speach.
 
You know, if people who desicrate the flag claim that it is a part of free speech, then I should feel that it is a part of free speech to beat THE LIVING HELL out of them.

 
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