Businessweek
July 9, 2007, 10:34AM EST
Taser's Cute Shocker
Cell phones and PDAs were inspiration for Taser's new weapon. Don't get them confused
by Mark Lamster
Taser's C2 stun gun was designed to look less ominous than a gun. It's available in metallic pink, powder blue, silver, and black
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The weapon looks more like a ladies' electric shaver than a weapon
Some things in life are supposed to be pretty. Flowers are supposed to be pretty. Eastern European swimsuit models are supposed to be pretty. Overpriced Italian sports coupes with bad gas mileage absolutely must be pretty. Weapons systems, however, need not be. Maybe they should even be a bit ugly, but don't tell that to the folks at Taser. This past January, the company introduced the C2, an elegantly streamlined stun gun that looks more like a ladies' electric shaver than a weapon capable of reducing the most fearsome attacker to a quivering mass of flesh. It even comes in metallic pink.
"We aim to make the products fit today's society," says Steve Tuttle, Taser's vice president of communications. Indeed, the latest cell phones and PDAs were design inspirations for the 6-inch, 7-ounce C2, which should rest comfortably next to either of those gadgets inside a handbag.
Though Taser was founded in 1993 to provide "citizen defense" products to the general public, law enforcement and the military now contribute the overwhelming majority of its overall revenues, which dipped 30 percent, from $67 million to $47 million, between 2005 and 2006. In the face of these losses, the C2 is a shrewd effort on the company's part to return to its roots and make nonprofessionals a more substantial portion of its market. And though its representatives won't come right out and say so, Taser is clearly hoping a significant segment of that market will be female. Promotional materials seem to play on women's fears: An online brochure features a pink C2 superimposed over a deserted parking garage, portentously shot from ground level at an oblique angle -- the point of view of a dropped keychain.
The C2's challenge was to capitalize on those fears with a design that wouldn't intimidate prospective buyers, be they male or female. As Tuttle states, the weapon was specifically designed by Taser's in-house team to look "less ominous than a black gun-shaped device" and "stylish and nonthreatening in terms of its form." In addition to pink, it comes in powder blue, silver, and black.
The C2 may be cute, but it packs a serious wallop: A pair of metal probes, connected to the unit by thin insulated wires and fired via compressed nitrogen, delivers a phased electric shock that incapacitates the body's neuromuscular system. Those probes have a range of 15 feet and need only contact their target (clothing will do) to be effective, though both probes must hit.
Taser claims its weapons are nonlethal--you can watch videos of the company's executives taking shots to the chest on its website, and video blogger Amanda Congdon famously volunteered for a zapping at this year's Consumer Electronics Show--but it has nevertheless drawn questions about their safety. In 2005, the Securities and Exchange Commission opened an inquiry into the publicly traded company regarding the propriety of its financial statements and the veracity of its safety pronouncements. Investor lawsuits followed, and last March Amnesty International called for police departments to suspend purchase and use of Taser weapons until independent studies verified the company's claims. As it is, consumer models are illegal in several states, including New York. Taser does require that buyers pass a background check, and every time the weapon fires, it disperses a cloud of coded tags that allow police to trace the spent cartridge back to the purchaser.
Caleb Crye, principal of Crye Associates, a firm specializing in public safety design, says he finds the C2's new look impressive. "It sidesteps all the visual references to a gun. It's just what would work for this market."
There's a rub, though: A friendly design that appeals to buyers may be too sexy to intimidate potential attackers. Imagine the scenario suggested by the brochure: a lone female approached in a garage by a male assailant. "If she pulls out a pink razor-looking thing, he's not going to perceive it as a threat," says Crye. When it comes to deterrence, it's hard to beat that ugly pistol.
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