A Message From The Anti-Hunting Retailers
A few weeks ago, I was watching an episode of Eastman Hunting TV while Nate Simmons was on a backcountry bowhunt. When I watch these shows I pay particular attention to the tech tips they offer to see if I can apply what they say to my hunts. Nate offered up a good tip on using a sunscreen stick instead of a sloppy liquid sunscreen. It was waterproof and unscented. Perfect, right? While his tip was great and I think it’s very useful, the product he mentioned comes from a company that doesn’t seem to think it’s products are made for the hunting community.

The product Nate mentioned was from KINeSYS. It’s a waterproof, unscented sunscreen stick that packs easily. The drawback is that KINeSYS doesn’t want hunters saying they use it. I sent an email out to them a few weeks back to ask if they might be interested in having me test it and do a giveaway on SoCal Bowhunter.

Here is what I asked of KINeSYS:

I have a question regarding your scent free sun stick I have been hearing about. My question involves the possibility of field testing it for the DIY Bowhunter community (http://diybowhunter.com/) and for the readers of my blog (socalbowhunter.blogspot.com). I am the primary field tester for our forums and I also have my own blog where I post the same reviews. I would love the opportunity to discuss some options for a possible field test and possibly a giveaway for our community. I plan on writing a detailed review on your sunscreen stick for our readers.

Here was the response I received from Rob Takeuchi at KINeSYS:

Hi Al,

Thanks so much for your email. Unfortunately, we are not able to provide a free sample for you to test.

Our promotional efforts focus mainly on efforts to help prevent sun damage, especially in the area of skin cancer prevention. While we certainly can appreciate how your readers would have significant need for an undetectable sun protection product while hunting, I am sure you can also appreciate how a company such as ours must be careful in choosing our alignment partners. We have a significant number of retailers, end-users and stakeholders who would prefer we stay focused on an educational-only message.

As I am sure you have heard before, your sport is considered controversial by some and we consider any possible promotional opportunities to be inappropriate for our mainstream family-oriented messages. Additionally, as you will see in our website we have deliberately formulated our products to be cruelty-free to animals and we are a partner of such groups as Caring Consumer, an affiliate of PeTA. Obviously, sport hunting is highly inconsistent with this stance.

We did have the opportunity to view your website and we believe it to be well-done and your hard work in presenting it does show. However, for both business and ethical reasons we thank you for your interest but decline any future involvement.

We wish you and Eric success with your website and blog and should you wish to purchase KINeSYS products, we always welcome new customers.

Sincerely,
Rob Takeuchi
KINeSYS Inc.

Here’s where I have an issue with this email. I asked him about testing the product because we hunters need sun protection, too. I never said I was going to test it on animals. I am testing it on me.

‘Our promotional efforts focus mainly on efforts to help prevent sun damage, especially in the area of skin cancer prevention ‘

Isn’t skin cancer prevention what sunscreen is all about? That’s why I asked for a sample, Mr. Takeuchi. What did you think I wanted to use the sunscreen stick for? He mentions ‘choosing our alignment partners’ and I can’t figure that out. I didn’t ask for a sponsor or to be partners. I just wanted to try out their product and report on it to my fellow hunters. I love how they can’t send me a sample (which is perfectly ok with me), and for ‘both business and ethical reasons we thank you for your interest but decline any future involvement.’ However, if I want to purchase their product I can. Shouldn’t he be asking me not to purchase it, too?

Here’s another thing that bothers me. They can’t support hunting, but they can support fishing. Check out the testimonials they have decided to post. Wouldn’t these create an ethical issue for them, too?

In case you need a sunscreen stick, Coppertone just came out with a similar stick. It retails for around $5 a stick. That’s $3-5 less than the KINeSys and you can find it at Wal-Mart and Target. I tried finding the KINeSYS brand and only a few stores seem to actually carry it. You decide who you want to support, but you won’t find me supporting them.