Picture the idyllic scene: two mothers, bidding each other farewell as one collects her child from a play date.
The little scamps come rushing out of the house, swiping at each other with what look like brightly coloured plastic swords.
But wait…
Awkward...
Those aren’t swords! They’re… they’re… oh my...
They’re dildos, that’s what they are.
No this isn’t the new Lady Gaga video, the latest David Cronenberg film or a wry comment on what it means to be male.
It’s an ad by gun safety advocacy group Evolve, an organisation committed to reducing gun violence while taking no position on the issue of gun control.
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“If they find it, they’ll play with it,” the narrator intones, adding: “So always lock up your guns.”
Evolve co-founder Rebecca Bond told the Huffington Post: “Safety in the gun category should be inspiring, people should be inspired to make good choices and safety should be cool.”
With the ad being released at the start of summer, Bond points out it’s a time where children can be in unfamiliar environments – such as at sleepovers and play dates – and could potentially get their hands on dangerous items.
Bond added: “It presents it in a way that’s humorous, it creates some levity for engaging someone in the conversation.”
The ad comes a day after Everytown For Gun Safety released findings saying at least 100 children were unintentionally by gunfire since the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School which left 20 children dead.