THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE CONTAINS
MATURE SUBJECT MATTER
"For the individual that's used to saying: no, I can't go out with the boys tonight, my wife doesn't want me to, and, yes, dear, no dear, and the wimp of America, it's a chance for him to come out here and really vent his aggression"
Michael Burdick on CNN/July 17, 2003-19:32 ET
Bambi hunts back
Paintball is flirting more and more with mass media audiences, but what kind of paintball? The following article is an attempt to understand the strange events that occurred between July and August 2003 in and around Las Vegas, NV.
It was the middle of July. Calls were coming in from everywhere, "did you read about this guy?", or "paintball, like what they're doing in Las Vegas...". It was on CNN, MSNBC, Fox, and made national newspapers around the world.
'Paintball' as a word made it to more articles and was pronounced by more news anchors than ever before in this short of a time span. And for the first time, the paintball community as a whole (professionals and players) wasn't cheering. They were, like us, a bit more concerned about what this story was doing to 'paintball', a word that had taken years to legitimize.
Enters Las Vegas-based Michael Burdick, founder of "Hunting for Bambi". The concept was both horrific by the subject matter, and an incredibly bold marketing ploy at the expense of news channels as legitimate as KLAS and Fox. Horrific because it invited men to pay $10,000 to 'hunt' naked women with paintball guns. The women were given $1,000 to be hunted, and an extra $2,000 if they made it without being hit. This, of course got many people in an uproar, from Las Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman to women's rights organization like NOW or the Feminist Majority Foundation. The story broke throughout the world as hundreds of thousands of people were learning about paintball in sentences like these, "women are screaming with fear as our Team Bambi hunters track them down and blast them with paintball guns", or "with over 30 women ready to be chased down and shot like dogs..." But it gets worse.
It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye. And assuming that this was just fun and games ("shooting women like dogs" in a country where one in four women report that they have been the victim of violence), the women were not allowed to wear goggles, they could only wear shoes. That is one lawsuit that the paintball industry did not need, and to bring back a little sense in all this chaos, Brass Eagle boldly took upon itself to send a press release to everyone concerned (all media) making the following two statements:
1) Purposely shooting at persons who are not wearing a paintball mask, which could result in serious eye injury, including blindness.
2) Purposely shooting at persons not wearing clothing, which provides some protection from the impact of a paintball. Playing paintball nude may result in significant bodily injury.
The website, under attack from all sides did 'sex' down its language a little and was even shut down by its service provider. When it came back online, the 'hunted' women were now obliged to wear goggles. But Michael Burdick was yet to face another attack, and this one would prove practically fatal.
,
a privately funded online urban legend 'debunker' denounced
"Hunting for Bambi" as a hoax. In fact, the founder would have
put on a 'mock' hunt (actors on both sides) for KLAS television
reporter LuAnne Sorrel, who ate up the story without much in-depth
enquiry. According to Snopes.com, and now KLAS and Fox (which
had initially picked up the story no questions asked), real
hunts were never organized and the only thing that Michael Burdick
was trying to achieve was to sell the Hunting for Bambi videos,
available through the website. In this case, though the subject
matter was still blatantly offensive, he could no longer be
accused of putting people in physical danger, only of selling
a 'fictional' adult video and pointing out the flaws of today's
media through an exemplary and elaborate marketing ploy. Though
there are several indications that clearly point to a hoax (including
the recent addition of 'actors only' to the description of the
video on the HFB website), Burdick still insists that Hunting
for Bambi is the real deal.
Epilogue
As much as Hunting for Bambi hijacked journalists for advertising
purposes, it also hijacked our sport and linked it to something
offensive, something that professional paintball players cannot
approve of, and something that the sport absolutely does not
convey: violence towards women. We were glad to see,  from
Brass Eagle's prompt response to practically every paintball-related
chat room that players were in an uproar everywhere in the world
to have their sport associated with this 'hunt'. Why? Because
unfortunately, though paintball is more media-friendly today
than it ever was, the paintball we play is still quasi inexistent
to mass media audiences. Yes, Claire Danes does shoot 'John
Connor' with a paintball marker at the beginning of Terminator
3 and as much as we love Eminem, it did sadden us to watch him
do a paintball 'drive-by' in 8 Mile. At least, Johnny Knoxville
uses protective goggles, but might not always incite the best
behavior with a paintball marker when he shoots his buddies
in every other episode of Jackass. And then, when you thought
you had seen it all, Hunting for Bambi comes along... This is
what most people see of paintball, they unfortunately don't
see tournaments like Huntington Beach, they don't see X-Ball,
what they think of when they think of paintball is people like
Johnny Knoxville or Michael Burdick, and as you probably might
guess, that's the last thing you think of when you're breaking
out against... say Dynasty? This is why it is of capital importance
that both the NPPL and the NXL succeed in promoting their series
and having them carried by major television networks. This is
why it is important that you as a player or as an organizer
continue to promote the sport you like to see on media outlets
in your respective countries, and pay very careful attention
to the sport's image. In today's world, image might not be everything,
but... all right, who are we kidding?
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