An Apopka gunmaker is fighting off criticism for a “Not Today Antifa” ad it posted online that some say threatens liberal protesters.
The ad posted Monday night on Facebook from Spike’s Tactical shows four men with bullet-proof vests and holding semi-automatic rifles, staring down a group of black-masked men raising fists and crowbars while fires rage in the background.
It reads “Berkeley, Portland, Charlottesville, Boston,” and “Not Today Antifa.” Those cities were the sites of high-profile demonstrations from white supremacist groups. Antifa is short for anti-facist and is the term coined for a particularly vocal minority of counter-protesters.
In a statement Wednesday, Spike’s said the ad is “pro-American” and doesn’t promote violence against protesters. The ad was posted to promote a specially painted AR-15 rifle from the company and apparel maker Pipe Hitters Union.
The Facebook post has drawn hundreds of heated comments, some criticizing Spike’s for promoting violence and others defending the gunmaker.
“Spikes you are making a HUGE mistake with this post,” one Facebook commenter said.
“So you think that the only people who buy guns are your alt right, neo nazi nut jobs?” another comment said.
“Antifa can’t even operate a firearm. I’m surprised they’re even allowed to come out of their mothers basement,” one poster replied.
The ad is scheduled to run in a March edition of a magazine about firearms, Recoil, the company said. Pipe Hitters Union is headquartered in Austin, Texas.
A controversial ad of this nature isn’t surprising, considering the political climate that has emerged since President Donald Trump was elected in November 2016, said Tracy Kizer, an associate professor of marketing at the Rollins College Crummer Graduate School of Business.
“If you think about their intended audience, it seems pretty clear what the intention is,” Kizer said.
Last year’s Super Bowl featured several advertisements with political undercurrents taking aim at controversial issues, such as immigration, a border wall and gender equality.
“It seems that we are seeing more of these polarizing ads, and companies are using their political identities to communicate with customers,” Kizer said.
Several anti-gun violence groups said the ad was irresponsible.
“The Spike ad is unnecessarily provocative and is clearly intended to spark controversy,” said Taylor Houston, a spokesman for Pride Fund to End Gun Violence, an LGBTQ group based in Washington, D.C. “What other reason would there be to invoke cities in which white supremacists have rallied?”
The ad was intended to show gun-owners standing up against antifa protesters, not threatening them, said Spike’s Tactical marketing director Kit Cope.
Cope said he believes the ad depicts antifa as attackers and the other group as defenders.
“It’s not promoting violence,” he said.
A Newsweek article also took issue with that idea on Tuesday.
“Street-level politics, more specifically an ongoing conflict between white supremacist demonstrators and antifa, or anti-fascist counterprotesters, has become a big news story following the rise of Donald Trump,” the Newsweek article said. “Now a gun company is using anger over antifa to sell dangerous assault rifles to only one side.”
Cope said he thinks antifa is a “highly communist and radical group that is parading around in the guise of being anti-facist” and that the movement wants to put more restrictions on guns.
The Washington Post describes antifa as “autonomous anti-racist groups that monitor and track the activities of local neo-Nazis.” The Post article said there are antifa groups around the world, but antifa is not itself an interconnected organization, any more than an ideology like socialism or a tactic like the picket line is a specific group.
Since the ad was posted, the Spike’s Tactical factory and showroom in Apopka has had numerous threatening and demeaning phone calls, Cope said.
“The ladies answering the phone at first were a little rattled,” Cope said.
However, being a gun manufacturer and retailer, the staff was not worried about safety at the store, he said.
Cope said Spike’s Tactical was not intending to make a political statement with the advertisement but said many of its customers are politically conservative and have “negative thoughts towards antifa.”
