Letters To and From PMI regarding the "Evil" line of Products

[shartley]

Originally posted by JEDI
Shartley, if gave you an Evil tee-shirt, and a glove with a squeegie, would you become a bonus-balling, hit wiping degenerate? I doubt it. You seem too intelligent. So why should we assume, without incident to back it up, that the rest of the Pball community would? I'd rather see intersting ideas grow. It allows more tolerant individuals (thats not a shot at any one)to express themselves in a manner that fits them. I think it takes a certain amount of intelligence to be a Pballer. I think its that amount of intell. that will keep people from actually acting out what a tee shirt implies.

I agree that we need to govern our selves in order to progress as a sport. Gross negligence wouldn't help any thing. I'm simply trying to demonstrate with my AGD analogies, that not every borderline idea results in a complete break down of our sport.

Every advance in our sport is gonna be met with some opposition. Opinion is good, and red flags keep us in check, but burning witches at the stake never really helped.

[ogre55]

Originally posted by Thordic
Sorry Fred, but I agree with JEDI on this. It seems like AO is copping a "Paintball soccer mom" politically correct attitude lately.

[Termite]

Opinions and such.

First, if you are attacking someone because they are voicing an opinion, you should move to a communist country. That is the great thing about America. We all have our own opinions and are free to express them.

Second, it is not what WE think about the "Image of paintball" that matters. We all love paintball and want to play. It is the image precived by PEOPLE THAT DON'T PLAY OR UNDERSTAND PAINTBALL . I'll give you an example, I'm a hunter, I love to hunt as do many other people. There have been a lot of laws passed and there will continue to be laws passed against hunting ( I would not be surprised if hunting is outlawed eventualy, They are trying to do it in the UK as we speak) The reason is there are WAY more ppl that live in the cities and burbs that don't hunt but DO vote. BecauseTHERE PERCEPTION IS THAT HUNTING IS CRUEL they will vote against it, weather this is a true statement or not.

As for what I'm doing about the Evil line of products, I used to own a field and am now a buyer for a different field/store. We buy only the VERY MINIMUM from PMI and will discontinue all purchases from PMI if nessisary. Do they produce good products? Yes! Is it worth the bad perception protrayed to non-paintball educated people? Absolutely NOT!

Termite

[JEDI]

I guess we agree to disagree. Arguing this topic makes me tired. I'm just gonna sit back and let paintball crash and burn. I'm gonna go to confession and repent for all my bad tee shirt wearing sins. WE'RE ALL DOOMED!

[Thordic]

I signed the petition because I'd rather not see paintball banned anywhere.

Signing a petition against banning paintball makes me a soccer mom?

Also, I've stated many times, even if you do deem me hypocritical, it doesn't bother me

[blnk162]

bonus balling is part of the game....

As much as you dont want to admit it wiping is also....

ANd thordic summed it up...everyone has taken a soccer mom approach to the whole issue...

[Shane-O-Mac]

also did any else catch the new barrel system from PMI?
THE PIPE?
slogan: SMOKE THE PIPE! printed on free stickers even.
i am in agreeance with fred, as it seems to be getting outta hand with product names and t-shirts. if we really care about our sport, we need to step up and let the manufactures know, what we the buying public, think of their product or ad campaign. if you dont agree, thats fine but let others do what they think is right. dont flame or slam anyone for standing up for what they think is hurting their favorite sport.
Shane-O

[shartley]

Originally posted by blnk162
bonus balling is part of the game....

As much as you dont want to admit it wiping is also....

ANd thordic summed it up...everyone has taken a soccer mom approach to the whole issue...

[Spaceman613]

Didnt see the slogan for the pipe Shane.... Thats a lil overboard. I think they could have found something much more fun.

Also, bonus balling and wiping might be part of YOUR game, but it isnt part of mine...

But never EVER wiping. When I need to wipe to win, is the day I leave the game.

[ogre55]

Originally posted by Thordic
Also, I've stated many times, even if you do deem me hypocritical, it doesn't bother me [/B]

Apologies if that is how it came off, it was not meant to be that way.

Ogre

[ogre55]

Originally posted by Shane-O-Mac
[B]also did any else catch the new barrel system from PMI?
THE PIPE?
slogan: SMOKE THE PIPE! printed on free stickers even.

To all that do not have a problem with the approach that paintball marketing seems to be headed in, I have questions. How would you feel if the Louisville Slugger were renamed to say, the Corker or the Skull Crakcer?

I had a few more suggestions, but I didn't think they would be appropriate on a family board.

Ogre

[covadsucks]

You folks forgot one thing in all this bickering amongst yourselves. Unless you all send emails/letters to PMI, the EVIL campaign will still roll along and keep putting out said shirts. You should all take some time by sending a letter to PMI's Director of Marketing or VP of Operations. You know how quickly that campaign will be looked into if you continue to send letters to the Customer Response Team Member Mike? All it takes is a key stroke to delete your messages. Go up the food chain at PMI and and see some serious results, it works that way in every industry you can think of.

Just my $.02

[battlegroup]

Exact Same Reply

I sent an E-mail to Pmi as well and received the exact same reply as fred...word for word. It seems it is a canned response. Maybe they have been getting e-mails and drafted that response up to reply to everyone.

I agree with those of you who think this is poor taste in advertising. Paintball has enough problems with the general public's perception of the sport. Hence the problems in New York and Baltimore. If Paintball does get banned in any city, Look out! As they say "**** rolls downhill, and gains momentum" We don't need ANY advertising that can be even remotely bad or perceived as bad, because peception is the rule. If one city bans paintball and another city see this, and has even one incident with paintball the bans will roll and gain momentum. Like it or not, Paintball players are in the minority when it comes to voters, and people who have a bad perception of the sport will win if it comes to a vote.

For those of you who support the shirts or say just let it be, ask yourself this: Could this advertising cause misconceptions about the Sport? And then ask yourself: Could this advertising advance the sport in any way? My answers are Yes and No respectively. I for one want to keep playing Paintball and I will Boycott PMI if they don't discontinue the Advertising, and stated that in my letter to them. I urge you to do the same.

[Fred]

Anyone who calls ME Politically Correct had better try to get to know me a little bit better. Just as my liberal co-workers (all of them are liberal...), they like having me around to keep things interesting.

Soccer mom mentality? Sorry, but if I'm coming off as concerned for paintball as a sport, that's exactly what I am trying to get across.

Giving me a shirt that says refs suck, or wiping is ok, or a glove that makes wiping easier won't make me wipe, but a newbie or experienced cheater will see it on the store wall and feel that their actions are being supported by the manufacturer, that it is OK do keep the unsportsmanlike conduct going.

Wiping part of the game? Just try it after I see one of my shots break on you at my field. I'll haul you in to the head ref and personally help him get your information and polaroid to add you to the known cheaters file. 2 offenses and you're banned. period.

---Fred

EDIT: Added: Thanks to whichever moderator made this a sticky thread... I hope to spread the word some more about this.

[warpfeedmod]

maybe it's just me but I can't find a link to these shirts that everyone's talking about. Did they remove them from the website already?