JT USA’s promotional poster features their pin-up girl and spokesmodel Bon Bon.
The Airgun Designs spokes-model is more beautiful than her surroundings near the entrance to the Big Butler Fairgrounds north of Pittsburgh in July 2003.
Girls. Ladies. Gals. Women. Say what you will, women can play paintball as well as men. Before you take this tricked-out female paintball combatant for granted, you might want to check out her shooting iron, the sniper scope, the military camo, the sidearm and the gleam in her eye that says, “You slip up just once and you’re dead meat.” (Photo by Ted D’Ottavio .)
Still, mom kind of grouses about me playing paintball. Mind you, she never had a problem when my husband started playing. So, why the double standard? We’re working on that, but it ain’t done and gone yet. One day, maybe when my girls get to be my age, maybe.
Amy (again): Before we’re done, I also would like to comment on the use of sexy girls in ads to sell equipment and such, but I didn’t know if that would be mean spirited.
Paintball Digest: Hmm. Sort of a comment about the old advertising adage “sex sells,” eh? From what you said, it sounds like you’re against it, right? Well, fire away.
Amy: Now how did you know I would take the con side? Actually, I can see both sides, but here’s what I think.
As a female player, it offends me to see manufacturers using sexy girls in their ads. That sends two messages. First, they are not considering me, the female player, as a consumer and are obviously targeting only the male demographic and that’s wrong! Second, how good is their product really if they have to resort to sexy advertising? Got to get a hot babe to sell your marker? Your product probably can’t hold up in quality!
Everybody knows that Tippmann , for instance, is a good quality marker and they have never (to my knowledge) used a cute, sexy girl or even a cartoon girl in a bikini to sell their product! (I gotta admit their spokes model is cute though.) And third, why can’t manufacturers at least use girls who actually play paintball in those ads? You take one look at a lot of these girls and you know they have never been on a playing field!
I have male players tell me that they aren’t influenced to buy by the girls in the ads. Most paintball players want to know all the ins and outs of their equipment and could care less who is holding it in the picture. If it’s good quality, they will buy it.
So I don’t feel that my position on this subject is completely because I am a girl. I’m against using sexy models to sell equipment because I am a serious player and want to be treated like one. Don’t give me fluff. Tell me about your product!
The pro side of the kind of advertising we’re talking about is that manufacturers are targeting that all-important 18-to-24-year-old male demographic and, let’s face it, we always need new blood in the sport! Get them interested, and based on my experience, they’ll get hooked!
There is a new paintball show on Fox Sports World called “Splatter Factor.” The host is some bimbo with huge boobs who preens and pouts for the camera. At the end of one segment she said, and I quote, “When we come back [following a commercial] more of me dancing!”
What does that have to do with paintball? Nevertheless, the show is really good! They really give you the ins and outs of the game, the industry and the gear. So, I guess it’s a trade-off. Hook the young guys who want to drool at the girl and maybe they will get interested in paintball in the process.
I hope that when paintball becomes a more mainstream sport they won’t have to resort to tactics like this and we can start getting serious! Get rid of the bimbo dancing and show us more paintball!
Paintball Digest: Well, no one could accuse you of pulling your punches.
Amy: Thanks, but there is one more thing I want to comment on. When you [Paintball Digest] asked if men pee in the bushes while I’m around, well believe it or not, that actually has happened to me! I was out patrolling once with the general for our side in a big game. We were sweeping the field and such when he asked if I would look out for a second while he peed! I couldn’t believe it! It was so weird, but on the other hand, some part of me doesn’t view it as negative, but rather that he was treating me like an equal. I mean, he definitely would have asked a male player to watch out for him, so why not me, right? That told me he considered me just a player and not a girl on the field.
Paintball Digest: With almost eight million people playing paintball in the U.S. and Canada and the vast majority being men – maybe more than 90 percent – do you feel that this kind of thing keeps the women away from playing? Do you feel that a lot more women would get involved in paintball if using sexy girls to sell equipment were moderated?
Amy: That’s right. Let’s say there are 7-1/2 million men playing and half a million women. Doesn’t it seem like there’s a lot more room to grow the sport among women?
Paintball Digest: Since you specifically mentioned Tippmann, I ought to ask if Tippmann is one of your sponsors. Are they?
Amy: No, Tippmann is not one of my sponsors, but I have a special affinity for them because my first marker was a Tippmann Pro Am. It served me well those first years! I had to retire it when it became harder and harder to find replacement parts for the ‘ole girl. It was a much older model (made of cast iron!) and I was swayed by the lightness of newer models. Being a member of (Michael Hanse’s) Blue’s Crew team, we mostly all play with the Generation E Matrix—electric blue ones of course!
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Another female player, Nancy Durham-Glynn is a member of the seven-woman, Tippmann -sponsored PaintGirls paintball team, all of whom are from Maine. “There are quite a few women who play paintball,” she said, “and some of them are as good or better than most men who are playing, so it’s just about equal once you are out there on the field. I’m a member of an all-woman team and we’re proud of our play and teamwork.”
Don’t even imagine that girls can’t play paintball, too!
Nancy, who is in the unusual position of being a mother and a grandmother (although she looks about 25!), also owns the 202 Paintball pro shop and playing field in Manchester, Maine. She says there seems to be a difference in how women on the playing fields are treated depending on the age of the men playing. “Young men in their early 20s seem to pack a little attitude toward women,” Nancy says. “They seem a little cocky at that age. Most other men on the field are a little protective, even the referees.”
One thing that does concern Nancy is the use of young women, many of them teenagers, as sex objects in posters and in advertising, “It doesn’t bother me so much personally or as a player. As a mom, though, I’m concerned about the message it sends to my 12-year-old daughter.”