haha schecter guitars w/funny pro-iraq war propaganda

[Erik]

so apparently a while ago, schecter's (guitar manufacturer) website had a very obviously pro-war picture of some american soldiers with schecter guitars. so. this guy from sweden who plays schecter guitars (i read this on another forum) takes offense and e-mails them:

What are you up to!? How the hell can you use a picture of soldiers with guns and guitars as a welcome to your homepage? Every day innocent people die because of war and this you try to glorify. A musical instrument should not be pro-war.
I own a number of Schekter guitars and I really enjoy playing them, but if this means I indirectly support the United States idiot war industry there will not be hesitation in my decision to sell my guitars off immediately. I know a major part of all musicians will agree with me when saying that G.W.B and his warfare is non defendable by any means. You dig your own grave.
I demand a valid explanation ASAP.

and of course, this being a semi-big and respected guitar company, you would expect them to reply with something like "oh well we're sorry if this offended you blah blah PC rubbish". schecter replies like this -- and this can be interpreted as the OFFICIAL COMPANY STANCE on the matter since he emailed their official contact address:

1) FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: If you do not like our homepage, then simply please do not visit us.
it is well within your freedom of choice not to do so. It is our perogative to design our website as we feel fit.

2) PROMULGATION OF WAR: you are concerned that innocent people die as a result of war.
are you concerned when innocent people die from tyranny? If so, how can you then come to
the conclusion that the inclusion of troops on our homepage is tantamount to promoting warfare?
quite the opposite, our troops quell war. When is the last time sweden did any such thing?

3) INDIRECT PROMOTION OF WAR: obviously if YOU come the the conclusion that by playing a schecter
it contributing to the war efforts, please by all means sell them. It is well within your perogative to choose
which guitar you should play. Rather than whine about it, just shut up and sell them.

4) YOU DEMAND A REPLY: GO FUCK YOURSELF. We are proud of the efforts of our military.
It is easy to criticize when you and your country haven't contributed a damn thing.

(emphasis mine)

now... isn't this kinda funny? i mean to some extent i applaud them for daring to not be PC (not that i necessarily support their stance as such) but is it really the role of a god damn guitar manufacturer to say "hey if you don't support the war, then go fuck yourself and don't play our guitars"? discuss!

 

[MadeInNewJersey]

good for the guitar manufacturer

no one's forcing the guy to support the company. i'm sure he can find a guitar manufacturer who feels differently

 

[Erik]

i'm just boggled that a large and respected company tells their paying customers to literally "GO FUCK THEMSELVES" in capital letters.

 

[En Vind Av Sorg]

I dont agree with the stance, but I think thats pretty fucking funny. And in all honesty its kind of refreshing to hear a company actually voice what it believes in and not simply reply (as erik mention) in PC fashion that is prevalent nowdays.

 

[MadeInNewJersey]

i'm just boggled that a large and respected company tells their paying customers to literally "GO FUCK THEMSELVES" in capital letters.

obviously they don't give a flying fuck what some NON-IMPORTANT person (read: someone who's opinion about the U.S. doesn't fucking matter) thinks about their company, and clearly don't care if they have his business or not.

Again, good for them.

 

[Erik]

obviously they don't give a flying fuck what some NON-IMPORTANT person (read: someone who's opinion about the U.S. doesn't fucking matter) thinks about their company, and clearly don't care if they have his business or not.

Again, good for them.

yeah but i think that probably

1) everyone who works at schecter doesn't support the war so making this an official stance is funny
2) the people who ACTUALLY BUILD schecter's guitars, in SOUTH FUCKING KOREA, probably do NOT support the war to any greater extent

and some other things. i dunno; a company with many people working for it is not an entity with coherent views on stuff. doing stuff like this will not only alienate half of their customers (exaggeration) but probably create internal friction as well.. meh. i don't really care.

you're selling FUCKING KOREA-MADE ELECTRIC GUITARS, get off the god damn soapbox. would they fucking come punch me in the face if i bought a schecter and played communist anti-war punk on it?

 

[KILL TULLY]

Hahahaha I think its fucking awsome. I wish microsoft tech-support would just be like, "How do you restart your computer? ummm...by...GO FUCK YOURSELF!"

 

[MadeInNewJersey]

yeah but i think that probably

1) everyone who works at schecter doesn't support the war so making this an official stance is funny
2) the people who ACTUALLY BUILD schecter's guitars, in SOUTH FUCKING KOREA, probably do NOT support the war to any greater extent

and some other things. i dunno; a company with many people working for it is not an entity with coherent views on stuff. doing stuff like this will not only alienate half of their customers (exaggeration) but probably create internal friction as well.. meh. i don't really care.

you're selling FUCKING KOREA-MADE ELECTRIC GUITARS, get off the god damn soapbox. would they fucking come punch me in the face if i bought a schecter and played communist anti-war punk on it?

ha ha, I don't know, give it a try

p.s. South Korea probably DOES in fact, support the war, though I can't be certain (since I haven't looked & don't really care)

 

[Erik]

you can't say COUNTRY X supports the war. officially they might "support" it even if 90% of the population thinks otherwise.

 

[MadeInNewJersey]

well that's why I can say it

but really, s.korea has been a U.S. ally forever, and pretty much does/thinks any way the U.S. does as long as N.Korea is there

 

[Erik]

ya, i'm aware of that.. but you know, the WORKING CLASS, the type of person that would sit in a factory assembling guitars for an american company, might have different views on shit.

 

[MadeInNewJersey]

i suppose

no one cares about them anyway :Smokedev:

 

[Erik]

nah, why should schecter care about them, i mean they only supply their entire product line right

 

[JayKeeley]

That could be fake. I don't deny they replied to his note, but I get the sense that the Swede coloUred it up a little.

Alternatively, these e-mails to customer support get picked up by Joe Schmoe. The response isn't from the CEO, so I'm pretty sure someone's going to get fired.

Why would a company otherwise dare alienate 50% of its customer base, American or not?

 

[Erik]

That could be fake. I don't deny they replied to his note, but I get the sense that the Swede coloUred it up a little.

meh. i don't think so. the reply obviously is written by someone with a better grasp on the english language than the original letter.

 

[MadeInNewJersey]

you know, it is possible they simply do not care

 

[Erik]

Why would a company otherwise dare alienate 50% of its customer base, American or not?

i dunno. as long as it's a privately held company, i guess they can do whatever they feel like -- if they feel that ideology is more important than profit, then well, it's a funny stance to take in capitalist america, but good for them i guess

 

[MadeInNewJersey]

bookmark the thread and monitor sales over the next 4 quarters, you'll know if it matters or not

 

[MajestikMøøse]

I'm ashamed to own this pro-Bush guitar.

 

[MadeInNewJersey]

burn it