Gun advertising once evoked groups of hunters and father-son trips into the great outdoors. But over the last 40 years, the weekend sportsmen demographic shrunk as a marketing target for brands such as riflemaker Winchester.

Now gunmakers have moved away from the wholesome images of unwrapping a rifle from under the Christmas tree. That advertising has been replaced by increasingly darker messages about the benefits of armed self-protection against home invaders and an emphasis on patriotism amid the perceived danger of an eroding constitutional right to arms. Through it all are mocking hints that a prospective gun owner’s masculinity is at stake.

While those messages have been gaining speed for decades, they’ve switched gears to social media as firearms manufacturers have adapted to changing times. In response, communities, activists and congressional representatives have started pushing back.

“There are already 400 million guns in our country. The gun market is overly …

Tags Content Marketing, Marketing, Social Media Marketing