A truck dealer and gun rights supporter in Florida has tripled his sales by offering a free AK-47 assault rifle to all new buyers, he said on Monday.
“My sales have increased three-fold,” Nick Ginetta, of the Nations Trucks dealership in the central town of Sanford, told AFP. He said his clientele is mostly hunters, fishermen and outdoorsmen.
“If I (were) selling Hyundais, I would not go for that. It wouldn’t attract my customer base,” he added.
PHOTO: EPA/NATIONS TRUCKS 照片:歐新社
He unveiled the offer last week in a show of support for US troops ahead of Veterans Day.
“A lot of veterans have given a lot of sacrifice for this country, for our rights, and one of the rights that we have is the ability to own firearms,” Ginetta, himself a veteran, said.
In the last four days he has handed out 21 vouchers for new AK-47s that can be used at a local gun shop, where he has reserved 100 of the assault rifles at wholesale prices.
He plans to continue the offer until the guns sell out.
“I give you a voucher to go to the gun shop, and you have to pass all state and federal regulations,” he said, adding that customers can use the vouchers for other firearms.
“The whole reason to advertise (AK-47s) was to create buzz ... I chose the weapon for that specific reason. I wanted the buzz. To be honest, I didn’t anticipate the success.”
The decision to focus the ad campaign on the AK-47, an assault rifle used by armed groups the world over, including insurgents battling US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, has not gone unnoticed among Ginetta’s employees.
“The salesmen, they make jokes,” he said. “’Nick, line one. It’s (Osama) bin Laden. He wants to buy a truck!”
(AFP)
佛羅里達州一位販賣卡車的擁槍權支持者星期一表示,卡車銷售量在他打出「首次購車送AK-47衝鋒槍」的口號後翻了三倍。
中部城市桑福德,國家卡車公司(暫譯)的尼克‧吉內塔告訴法新社,「我的銷售增加三倍。」他說顧客大多為獵人、漁夫,與戶外生活者。
他補充說,「(如果)我賣的是韓國現代汽車,我就不會這樣做。這樣無法吸引我的基本顧客。」
他上週以此促銷活動,在退伍軍人節前對美國部隊表達支持。
本身也是退伍軍人的吉內塔說,「許多退伍軍人為了這個國家、為了我們的權利而犧牲自己,當中的一項權利就是持有槍枝。」
過去在四天的時間,他已送出二十一張兌換新的AK-47衝鋒槍的禮券,可於當地的槍店使用。他在槍店已經以批發價保留了一百支衝鋒槍。
他打算促銷到槍都賣光為止。
他說,「我給你一張兌換券去槍店,但是你得通過所有的州與聯邦的規定。」他也補充說這個兌換券也可用來買其他槍枝。
「以AK-47為號召純粹只是噱頭…選了這把槍只為了這個目的。我只想耍噱頭。老實說,我沒料想到會這麼成功。」
決定以這把全球武裝團體,包括伊拉克與阿富汗的叛軍用來突擊美軍,都使用的AK-47為噱頭,不免招來吉內塔員工的注意。
吉內塔說銷售員會開玩笑。他們會說,「尼克請接一號線。是(奧薩瑪)賓拉登。他想買卡車!」
(法新社/翻譯:吳岱璟)
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