Amnesty ads target arms trade

Thursday January 26th 2006, 11:10 am
Filed under: Newspapers

Amnesty International UK is to send spoof weapons catalogues through the post and email inboxes to highlight the shocking ease with which weapons can be bought. The pressure group is launching a campaign to raise awareness of the need for an international arms trade treaty to create legally binding arms controls and to regulate the sale of guns. The UK campaign includes a glossy mail order ’small arms catalogue’ from the fictitious Teleshop company featuring models posing with machine guns and automatic pistols. An email campaign will surprise internet users with fake special offers for weapons, while a roadshow tour of shopping centres across the UK will be manned by fake salespeople demonstrating the ease with which an AK47 machine gun can be assembled and fired.

A provocative cinema ad, which will be shown across the UK for the next four weeks, will take the form of a spoof teleshopping channel promotion. In it, sales presenters are seen talking up the firepower and reliability of the AK47 as a young boy demonstrates how the gun is so easy to use that even a child can fire it. Buyers will even be offered ammunition thrown in free when they place their order. (Media Guardian,January 26, 2006)

Amnesty AK47