Flannel, muddy girl camo and man cards. See the ads used to sell the AR-15.

[yagotme]

7. Like any good advertisement,

you need a group of buyers familiar with the general product. In 1966, few civilians had experience with the Armalite system, and more with daddy's/granddaddy's wood and steel rifle. Enter Viet-Nam, and other cold war experiences, and you start getting a group of individuals familiar with the operating system/capabilities of the AR. For example, the military "needed" a magazine cutoff on weapons post Trapdoor, as troops would "waste" ammunition because the magazine fed bolt action was so much faster to shoot than the Trapdoor. The Krag, the 1903 Springfield, etc. Until we went to a semiautomatic rifle (M-1), the "need" for this cutoff was standard military SOP. After all, you don't market a race car to someone in the Amish community. You market it to individuals in the age range/experience that wants to buy your product.