Branson stuck in the 80's

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

[WOM]

Branson stuck in the 80's

Richard or Missouri?

[beak]

Branson stuck in the 80's

That'll put him in a pickle.

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

Branson stuck in the 80's

That would be richard. A mate on fb passed on the image after it had been liked by B.Maher. I have no idea what Branson's done with it. If it's a full page add in a paper or what

[Giggler]

Branson stuck in the 80's

I was expecting to see him in a hot air balloon with Per Lindstrand, who to my childhood eyes in the mid-80s always reminded me of Chris Woods.

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

Branson stuck in the 80's

Why is there a full stop after every country?
And why is there no exclamation mark after God Bless America?

[Jah Womble]

Branson stuck in the 80's

Because they all represent individual statements and because, I imagine, the author wished to convey a flat delivery rather than an exclamation.

[WOM]

Branson stuck in the 80's

It's a 1981 print ad by Handgun Control Inc. They were an advocacy group that apparently struggled financially until after the death of John Lennon. An influx of supporters financed ads like this one. They apparently folded in with the James Brady gun control folks after the Reagan assassination attempt.

[WOM]

Branson stuck in the 80's

The general rule about exclamation points in advertising copy is to never, ever have them under any circumstances.

[ursus arctos]

Branson stuck in the 80's

Yeah, HCI re-branded itself as the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence in 2000, to honor the substantial efforts that Sarah Brady (who was a senior executive with them for more than a decade) and her husband had made in the campaign for gun control.

It's interesting to me that the ad is from the year that James Brady and Reagan were shot, though my guess is that it pre-dates that event.

[Guy Profumo]

Branson stuck in the 80's

Pietro Paolo Virdis wrote:

"God Bless UKIP", surely?

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

Branson stuck in the 80's

So what you're telling me is that this add is old? Quite old?

The trick in such case which fooled me is the number for Sweden. No way that so many people were killed by guns in Sweden at that time. Very much so now, here, today.

[ursus arctos]

Branson stuck in the 80's

Yeah, it's 35 years old.

I'm pretty sure that the US number would be higher now

[WOM]

Branson stuck in the 80's

Oddly, I turned up an article that says, almost across the board, the numbers are pretty much the same today.

[ursus arctos]

Branson stuck in the 80's

There are a lot of ways to slice and dice them, and the question of whether one includes suicides and "police involved shootings" is particularly important.

In order to do a real comparison, you would need to know what basis the 1981 figures used.

[WOM]

Branson stuck in the 80's

Here. With link at bottom.

http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/death-rate-statistics-1981-gun-control-ad-look-familiar-142193

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/335-156/12554-58-murders-a-year-by-firearms-in-britain-8775-in-us

[WOM]

Branson stuck in the 80's

ursus arctos wrote: In order to do a real comparison, you would need to know what basis the 1981 figures used.

Indeed. There's some source noted in faint lettering under the column of stats, but damned if I can make it out.

[Jah Womble]

Branson stuck in the 80's

The general rule about exclamation points in advertising copy is to never, ever have them under any circumstances.

Or indeed anywhere else. (Well, anywhere that isn't dialogue.)

Some years ago, a friend showed me an 'official warning'-type email his girlfriend had sent her ex regarding who owned what after they split. She'd used exclamations so ridiculously frequently that the entire tone was by default rendered both trivial and hilarious. So, be warned, or something.

[WOM]

Branson stuck in the 80's

It says "Based on 1979 statistics." So that's nice.

[WOM]

Branson stuck in the 80's

Jah Womble wrote: Some years ago, a friend showed me an 'official warning'-type email his girlfriend had sent her ex regarding who owned what after they split. She'd used exclamations so ridiculously frequently that the entire tone was by default rendered both trivial and hilarious. So, be warned, or something.

Especially if Elaine's friend has her baby.

[Jah Womble]

Branson stuck in the 80's

Remembering 1979 fairly vividly, I'm surprised that the UK toll was that low.

[Janik]

Branson stuck in the 80's

Pietro Paolo Virdis wrote: So what you're telling me is that this add is old? Quite old?

Psst, PPV, there is no longer a country called West Germany. Just, y'know, for reference...

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

Branson stuck in the 80's

Janik wrote:

So what you're telling me is that this add is old? Quite old?

Psst, PPV, there is no longer a country called West Germany. Just, y'know, for reference...

Well, that was why I said Branson was stuck in the 80's because I thought he made an error. As it turns out, probably I did.

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

Branson stuck in the 80's

It's an astonishing figure regardless.

No, it is a figure especially astonishing.

It's not twice the number, five or ten-fold. It's in the millenium-fold.

[ursus arctos]

Branson stuck in the 80's

Some stats for 2013 from the Center for Disease Control

All injury deaths
Number of deaths: 192,945
Deaths per 100,000 population: 60.2

All poisoning deaths
Number of deaths: 48,545
Deaths per 100,000 population: 15.4

Motor vehicle traffic deaths
Number of deaths: 33,804
Deaths per 100,000 population: 10.7

All firearm deaths
Number of deaths: 33,636
Deaths per 100,000 population: 10.6

Note that the "firearm" figure would include homicides, suicides, "police involved" shootings and "accidental" shootings, and combine the stats for both handguns and long guns.

For firearms, the number of suicides is roughly twice the number of homicides.