Satire. It’s all over the internet. And it works. In the wake of satirical successes like The Onion, McCann and the Brady Campaign Against Gun Violence leveraged satire in their new PSA. The spot puts a spin on the infamous argument, “Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.” Instead, the campaign suggests this twist: “Guns don’t kill people. Toddlers kill people.” By changing one word, the campaign aims (yes, aims) to show the ridiculous of that phrase and that thought process.
A clever video and website use that argument to mock extreme gun groups that go to extreme lengths to take the focus off the guns, and onto anything else after tragic events occur.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjlxXAy1_eE
The site states that in 2015, toddlers shot and killed more Americans than terrorists. If that’s the case, they ask, who do we blame? The guns? Or the gun-wielding toddlers?
The website offers two options: 1) get out and vote for lifesaving gun laws, or 2) get the toddlers out! They humorously offer a toddler map of the US, exclaiming: Toddlers are closer than you think. They take the joke farther by offering a toddler drop off, no questions asked.
Using humor to tackle something as devastating as gun violence is an interesting tactic. I think it really works here. The campaign demonstrates the absurdity of placing zero blame on the unsafe guns laws that have allowed unspeakable, accidental violence to occur.
The Brady Campaign Against Gun Violence was started by Sarah and Jim Brady, former Press Secretary for President Ronald Reagan, who was shot in an attempted assassination against Reagan.
