Marketing Of Inherently Dangerous Products

There are many products sold which can be classified as inherently dangerous. If one thinks about it, almost every product sold or and marketed if used in the wrong way could be harmful to oneself. Inherently dangerous products are those that even if the buyer uses it properly it can be harmful. As we saw in the video guns are an inherently dangerous product, they are meant to kill. The sale of guns is an issue because of the fact they might get into the wrong hands but I feel what is really the problem is the marketing of guns. They are portrayed to be something that kids think is cool or fun to have. This causes huge problems because it is now the children that want the guns but they are the ones who misuse them.

„h In 2000, 1,776 children and teenagers were murdered with guns, 1,007 committed suicide with guns, and 193 died in unintentional shootings. A total of 3,042 young people were killed by firearms in the U.S., one every three hours

„h Each year from 1993 to 1997, gun murders were committed by 1,621 killers under the age of 18

„h In 2000, 80% of murder victims aged 13 to 19 years old were killed with a firearm

„h Firearms are the second-leading cause of death (after motor vehicle accidents) for young people 19 and under in the U.S.

(http://www.bradycampaign.org/facts/factsheets/?page=kag)

The majority of the instances where children die from firearms are kids killing other kids. Where do they learn this. Although we do not necessarily see commercials or billboards portraying guns here in Massachusettes children are exposed to it every day.

I do not necessarily agree with the fact that music, television or video games are the primarily where kids learn this behavior but I do agree that it has an impact. When a kids favorite rapper sings about gun violence they are marketing to the child. Kids idolize those people an in turn want to live the lives that they have. Video games are also a form of marketing to a child. I was watching someone play a game called Grand Theft Auto the other night and I could not believe they were actually able to sell a game like that. The entire purpose of the video game is to steal cars and kill people. The game actually gives you points for the amount of people you kill, and extra points if one of those people is a cop. What