Mystery Ranch Gets 'Woke' - Dives into Politics

[Farmingdale's Finest]

Pretty easy for me to understand that a lot of people could be uncomfortable or intimidated about heading out into the woods/mountains for the first time. Same as I would be damn uncomfortable and a bit intimidated about heading into the inner parts of any major city. I see no problem with this foundation wanting to open people up to the outdoors. I'm guessing that inner city kids probably don't get much of a chance to go hiking or camping, it would be a whole new world for them and could change their lives. Seems like a good thing.
I'll continue to buy MR products if I think they will work the best for me. They're customer support is the best I've ever experienced anywhere.

I live in NJ and we have Gateway National Recreation Area as part of our shore town. When my daughter was a senior in HS they did a joint class trip with a school from Newark NJ. These mostly black kids in most cases had never been to the beach even though it was less than an hour from where they live.

They freaked out when they did a marsh walk and the ranger pointed out horseshoe crabs. My daughter picked one up to show them and one girl literally ran to the back of the line she was so afraid of what she didn’t know. She told us many of the kids both boys and girls screamed. This goes to show exactly what this organization is talking about.


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[Trial153]

This shows the need to start a foundation for white guys with insecurity issues.

 

[peterk123]

It is a slippery slope when a for profit business gets involved when anything that is politically charged. It is a risky move for sure. The nice thing is that if it offends you, you have the option of not purchasing it. I agree that MR is trying to reach an untapped market. However, I am not sure I would give their marketing department high marks for how they went about doing it. I think they missed the mark. Focusing on color, political affiliation, the twelve different sexes, etc. will always offend and exclude, no matter how you spin it. Their target market actually should be ALL non hunters/outdoor loving people. With careful consideration they could have easily targeted a much wider demographic which included the folks in their current message. But I get it, jumping on the "woke" train is very popular right now. I just do not think it will be very popular with many of MRs repeat customers.

The other thing I observed when I was recently looking at packs is that MR's distribution network appears much larger than most of the other hunting pack manufacturers. The appearance to me is that they are much more commercialized than say SG, EXO, etc. This is also evidenced by how often I would see their packs heavily discounted, when other high end manufacturers are getting full retail. They may not care about what the hunting community think because they are expanding way beyond the hunting niche market. Also, I believe that they are selling quite a bit to the military, and it very well could be their bread and butter. If that is the case, they may be forced to be a "woke" business in order to maintain the government contracts. Just a wild ass guess though.

 

[RyanT26]

This shows the need to start a foundation for white guys with insecurity issues.

This comment is racist of reeks of genderism. It’s 2021 for Pete sake you can’t assume anything. You might appear to be a white male but can identify as a non binary whistle dragon. And we all no that non binary whistle dragons are facing a hard road on their path to the outdoors. #Mysteryranchwhistledragonstotheoutdoors

 

[MarshCallUser]

I always find it ironic when people say they "couldn't care less" about something but take the time out of their day to make a thread bitching about it.

I couldn't care less but I am going to take time out of my life to tell you about something I dont care about. Doesn't really add up to me but you do you.

Double negative. Dude is a word ninja!

 

[Zork]

This shows the need to start a foundation for white guys with insecurity issues.

It's clear they already have an internet forum support group to talk about their feelings. Maybe Kifaru will start making tissues? $49.99/box

 

[Marbles]

However, I am not sure I would give their marketing department high marks for how they went about doing it. I think they missed the mark. Focusing on color, political affiliation, the twelve different sexes, etc. will always offend and exclude, no matter how you spin it. Their target market actually should be ALL non hunters/outdoor loving people. With careful consideration they could have easily targeted a much wider demographic which included the folks in their current message.

This is very accurate. I don't remember the details well as I looked into this years ago, but the gist is accurate. Colleges have a hard time with minority graduation rates (admissions not so much). There was a college that looked at there demographics and said, hey most of the minorities we are having a hard time getting to graduation are low income, lets stop targeting minorities and start targeting low income in general. The end result was increased minority recruitment and graduation while also increasing graduation rates for none minority students from low income backgrounds.

This also shifts the narrative from sounding like "you have x characteristic, so you need help" to "life did not give you x opportunity, so here is some help making up for the lost experience." It does not fix all issues, but I think an overall shift in focus would be good for society. I also think that shift would decrease the amount of good intentions that have unintended, negative side effects.

Humans like to put virtue on their sleeves though. The intention is usually good, but in practice verbal posturing ends up replacing action and the practice serves as a shield for those who hide bad intentions behind it. The irony is that condemning someone else's virtue signaling is usually virtue signaling in itself rather than a good faith attempt to have a conversation; and, sometimes what we condemn as cynical posturing is actually a sincere attempt at action.

 

[Trial153]

It's clear they already have an internet forum support group to talk about their feelings. Maybe Kifaru will start making tissues? $49.99/box

The credo on the box can be.. " Our tissues Laugh at your tears"

 

[NDGuy]

non binary whistle dragons

At least when more of these get involved with hunting maybe guys won't bitch as much about regular non-residents

 

[Billy Goat]

At least when more of these get involved with hunting maybe guys won't bitch as much about regular non-residents

More??

Plenty of man bun bugle tuber's out there.

 

[Justinjs]

And just like that, one obvious troll has people cannibalising.
Meanwhile on the peta threads
"And then I told them something something liberals"

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Sorry. Didn’t mean to ruin the party.

once again for clarity, are we against people of color in the outdoors or companies that support people of color or both? Thanks. Xoxo. DJ.

Nobody is against people of color in the outdoors.

 

[robtattoo]

 

[Laelkhunter]

In some aspects, humans have never been more clueless and stupid than now...

So true. Saw a meme that read "50 years ago, a cars owner's manual told you how to adjust the valves and the carburetor. Today's owner's manual tells you not to drink the acid in the battery".

 

[Squincher]

The guy who founded this organization is a combat vet who has a whole pile of stories about the really shitty and scary things that have happened to him because of his skin color while he was trying to hunt and fish.

Buy your shit where you want. Support who you want. Getting your panties in a knot because someone else experienced things differently from you and then going on the internet to whine about it and about people and private companies doing what they want is beyond pathetic. Are your freedoms the only ones that matter?

Then why did he just speak in generalities? Surely, sharing actual stories of people refusing to sell him equipment or tags, or white people physically blocking his access at trailheads would rally the overwhelming majority of outdoorsmen to his cause. I don't understand why he didn't tell us just one or two stories from the "whole pile" you say he has.

 

[ODB]

Nobody is against people of color in the outdoors.

Correct. It seems most of the people worried about this are white folks living in cities.

i grew up in a rural VA town with plenty of black folks. A higher % of the blacks folks I knew hunted as compared to the whites I knew. It was just part of their life. No one put them on a shelf, or tried to enlist them. At the same time, no one said they don’t belong in the woods. We were all hunters and didn’t give a shit.

the white population of the US is still at 73%. Any moron who is shocked that they see more whites people in the woods overall(!) needs to pull their heads out of their ass.

the division by race/color/creed in this country is not benign. It has increased and it will further drive wedges under the guise of “unity”.

 

[MattB]

So, you take issue with every company that donates to the NRA? Guess you don't buy US made guns any more. You also must refuse to us any company that openly states it supports the Second Amendment. Or, do you only take issue with politics not being separated and apart from business if you disagree with those politics?

Meanwhile, on some gun control website somewhere they are asking to boycott Midway USA for donating to the NRA, and complaining about "them" who support it. The irony is that the people here who use terms like "libtard" don't realize they are cut from the same cloth and doing the same dumb things, albeit in the name of an opposing ideology.

 

[PNW bow hunter]

If companies are going to publicly promote
Political and Ideological groups with the money earned from customers purchases, is it dumb to support the companies that support groups you agree with?

The companies are speaking with money from customers. The customers should also speak with there money.

If a hamburger companie supported a group advocating the extermination of people based on their sexual preference, I think customers would speak loudly with their money.

 

[NDGuy]

If a hamburger companie supported a group advocating the extermination of people based on their sexual preference, I think customers would speak loudly with their money.

Imagine how angry people would be at that vs a company trying to pander to be more inclusive

Man think of the rant posts we would see!

 

[MuleDeerMike]

The post isn't political or ideological in anyway, at least that's not how I read it. Are black people their own political party now? Lol. Mystery Ranch wants to tap into a mostly untouched market and they want to sell more packs, plain and simple. They are a business after all.....