Last week, Heckler & Koch (HK), a German gun manufacturer with an American subsidiary in Columbus, Georgia, released a questionable commercial to advertise its new VP9CC, a compact 9mm pistol designed for concealed carry. In the video, a man is shown not only purchasing and learning how to shoot with a VP9CC, but also using it to stop a robbery or mass shooting at a coffee shop.
The gun industry regularly shows “good guys with guns” stopping “bad guys” in ads and social media posts — something that is exceedingly rare in the real world — but the HK video may be the first of its kind that so explicitly stokes people’s fear of gun violence to sell the products used to perpetuate it.
An HK Pistol for the “Prepared”
In the video, a bearded man in a hoodie opens the front door of a coffee shop and immediately draws a pistol from his waistband — possibly to rob the place or carry out a mass shooting, but the video provides no further details. A middle-aged man stands in response before the video cuts to a flashback of him purchasing the HK VP9CC at a gun shop. The voiceover states, “Preparedness starts long before a moment like this. It begins with choosing a tool you trust. Something reliable, discreet, and accurate.”
The video shows the middle-aged man shooting the HK pistol at a range for the first time — and hitting the lower-left corner of a target — as the voiceover states, “Training and practice ensure you’re capable of defending and safeguarding your life and those around you.”
The video intersperses slow-motion scenes at the coffee shop with more flashbacks of the middle-aged man firing at the range and concealing the HK pistol under different garments as time progresses. The voiceover suggests that people should carry guns, particularly the VP9CC, “every day…to protect” themselves and others, and be prepared to shoot first in an encounter.
Returning to the coffee shop, the video shows the middle-aged man drawing his HK pistol, raising the gun, and placing his finger on the trigger, but cuts away before he fires. It ends without revealing what happens to the shooters or bystanders, or showing the inevitable police response.
Feeding Off Insecurities
According to one X user, HK’s video implied that “[e]very coffee place is very dangerous and you better pack sum heat.” Similarly, a YouTube commenter said, “God. I’m not going to a coffee shop again.” Another stated, “Gun manufacturers are very good at feeding off the public’s insecurities.”
Several commenters discussed the consequences of the vigilantism depicted in the video. For example, one asked, “Now who is going to pay the lawyers when you pull that trigger?” Another suggested that the HK owner “better have” self-defense liability insurance “if he’s blasting randos in a coffee shop.” As one X user put it, “You cannot do that here bros not even in Oberndorf,” Germany, where the gun is manufactured.
Several others praised HK, however, saying the company “really nailed it with the messaging here,” for example.
Offensive Marketing Group
The company that produced the video, Offensive Marketing Group (OMG), is known for creating gun ads that push the envelope and depict gun ownership as something out of an action movie. As the company states on Facebook, “It’s our commitment to be the most EXPLOSIVE marketing company ever, specifically tailored for products that bring out our adventurous side.” In that same post, the company promises to develop marketing strategies that will “ALWAYS be on the Offensive.”
On its website, OMG described the HK commercial as one with “[r]esponsible messaging through intentional scripting” and “[c]inematic filmmaking — yet realistic scenario representation.” The company says that its goal is to help “one of the most recognized names in the firearms industry connect with a new generation of shooters.”
Another example of OMG’s work is a KelTec commercial, published in February, that shows a hit squad shooting their way into a warehouse to steal a briefcase — all to highlight new MP50 submachine guns and semi-automatic versions sold to civilians. The ad does not provide any information to discern the briefcase’s contents, or whether the shooters are good or bad.
In 2024, the company produced a Sig Sauer commercial that dangerously equates American revolutionaries with modern AR-15 owners — and gun laws, including prohibitions on assault weapons, with tyranny. The ad is one of the most significant examples of a large gun manufacturer embracing the radical insurrectionist theory, which posits that the Second Amendment protects the rights of individuals to overthrow the government by armed force.
Taken together, OMG’s tactics appear to be driving gun industry marketing — and gun culture more broadly — to new lows.