Claim: A gun company made ads with a terror organization in them to sell guns

Question

Smith and wesson using a proud boy shirt in an ad is pretty on the nose. The fact a literal rightwing terror organization is being used to sell guns is… it’s telling and a serious problem. Fascism has seeped into everything.

Answer 1

It seems that Smith and Wesson is actually not affiliating itself with proud boys. The shirt in their most recent ad has the letters PB on the front, however that stands for Perception Brand, a clothing line that sells tactical apparel. This is an unfortunate oversight by Smith and Wesson's advertising team, though it is explicitly stated in their twitter post that the shirt is fron Perception Brand. Vice source Twitter source

Comments

I appreciate you sharing the direct Twitter post that the company put out to dispute the idea that the PB could only mean Proud Boys, which does make sense, but it's presumptive. It's best to fact check straight from the subject the claim is about in a case like this so they can clear their name, which you did! I think it was a good strategy to check their socials since most PR these days is done via social media.

Answer 2

Smith and Wesson aren't affiliated with the proud boys. The shirt stands for something different that doesn't have anything to do with gun sales. Smith and Wessons advertising team clearly made a mistake when analyzing the t shirt.

https://reason.com/volokh/2020/11/09/lawsuit-over-schools-restriction-on-pro-gun-shirts-can-go-forward/

Answer 3

This claim is misleading

Reuters has fact checked this and determined the shirt in the ad is not affiliated with the proud boys.

The shirt used in the advertisement was from a tactical apparel company called Perception Brand Apparel, also with the initials PB. The shirt can be found listed on their website here.

The Reuters fact check also points out that the yellow PB initials have been used in proud boys attire before however in different fonts. Brass knuckles like the one on the shirt have also been used in proud boys imagery. Users online alleged that this design was a dog whistle towards the proud boys.

The proud boys have been designated as a terror entity by countries such as Canada and New Zealand. The United States only designates foreign groups, not domest, as terror organizations. (Source: NPR)

Comments

Nice work finding the Reuters fact-check and I like that you included a definition for the Proud Boys for those who may not have heard of them. Great job.