How A Wealthy, Clean-Cut ‘Duck Dynasty’ Tricked The World

[Melissa W.]

How A Wealthy, Clean-Cut ‘Duck Dynasty’ Tricked The World For Publicity
politicalblindspot.com/how-a-wealthy-clean-cut-duck-dynasty-tricked-the-world-for-publicity/

I would paste the whole blog post but it is pretty picture heavy.  Mostly I say Duh.. but other wise, I am not sure what to think. 

[rugbywife]

So essentially, they realized that as they were, they weren't interesting enough for their 15 minutes of fame, so they all got drunk, sat around a card table drinking expensive scotch and brainstormed ideas for how to be worthy of television crews. Some people do it by having lots of babies, some people do it by having lots of sex and fights, some people do it by doing lots of drugs, some people do it by having lots of money and shopping a lot and they did it by having lots of hair.

This is why I don't watch reality tv, period. There is no reality to it. My life is not worthy of television crews and I honestly doubt anyone's really is, which means it is all fabricated anyways. If I am going to watch fiction I would rather watch actors with talent and story lines written by people who can write.

[summer]

never seen the show. What is their backstory supposed to be?

[mmp]

Willie's wife, Korie, comes from a wealthy family.

They were on an episode of, "Billy the Exterminator" a few years ago when their duck blind was infested with snakes. 

I think all have college degrees and the father has a masters degree.

[pixy0stix]

Dec 31, 2013 9:37:09 GMT -5 mmp said:

They were on an episode of, "Billy the Exterminator" a few years ago when their duck blind was infested with snakes. 

Oh yeah? I used to watch that show occasionally. I wonder if that's where they got the idea for their own show?

[pixy0stix]

Dec 31, 2013 9:14:27 GMT -5 summer said:

never seen the show. What is their backstory supposed to be?

What they want people to believe, but don't out and out say it: Backwoods family makes a decent-ish living making duck calls.

Reality: Phil (the dude who says the vile things) created and patented a duck call in the 1970s that has made his family millions. He and his brother probably did grow up poor, but the sons did not.

[mmp]

Dec 31, 2013 10:13:43 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Dec 31, 2013 9:14:27 GMT -5 summer said:

never seen the show. What is their backstory supposed to be?

What they want people to believe, but don't out and out say it: Backwoods family makes a decent-ish living making duck calls.

Reality: Phil (the dude who says the vile things) created and patented a duck call in the 1970s that has made his family millions. He and his brother probably did grow up poor, but the sons did not.

Not sure why I know so much about them, but they didn't get rich until Willie took over the company. He invested in other stuff with Korie's father, too.

[earlgreyhot]

Shocked...

...at the fact there is an audience that willing laps this shit up. I was in a Bass Pro Shop last week and there were pillows in the likeness of the characters!

[gpw]

Dec 31, 2013 10:11:30 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Dec 31, 2013 9:37:09 GMT -5 mmp said:

They were on an episode of, "Billy the Exterminator" a few years ago when their duck blind was infested with snakes. 

Oh yeah? I used to watch that show occasionally. I wonder if that's where they got the idea for their own show?

Ok, I'm just gonna say I like Billy the Exterminator.  I hope nothing bad comes out about him.  I've been known to watch a show or two of his (some if it is so scripted, it cracks me up!)

[pixy0stix]

Dec 31, 2013 10:31:51 GMT -5 gpw said:

Dec 31, 2013 10:11:30 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Oh yeah? I used to watch that show occasionally. I wonder if that's where they got the idea for their own show?

Ok, I'm just gonna say I like Billy the Exterminator.  I hope nothing bad comes out about him.  I've been known to watch a show or two of his (some if it is so scripted, it cracks me up!)

Before he had his own show, he was on Dirty Jobs twice.

[Deleted]

I've seen these "before" pictures circulated online in the past. Anyone who honestly thinks that these guys aren't putting on a show is fooling himself. You can't make millions of dollars through a highly successful business if you're not very intelligent and driven. These guys did not get rich by cutting work to build a duck pond in the parking lot. Those things are done for the show.

Also, yesterday I saw a guy driving a beat up Jeep with a massive Confederate flag flying off of it, dressed all in camo with a rear windshield covered in Duck Dynasty and Deere stickers. He had a similar beard as these guys. It's amazing that people will model their lives off of reality TV... but based on where I live I would bet my salary that that's what happened there. No one will see him coming when he buys his organic bison burgers from Wegman's!

[downtoearth]

I have watched most all of the shows - nobody is hiding that the dad innovated the duck call business, made a bunch of money and the kids grew up wanting not. It's pretty obvious in all their shows that they also didn't grow beards until they were like 30+. Willie talks about going to college for business and how he took the business from a profitable small business to a huge enterprise. The often show wedding/college pictures of the boys without beards in ivy-leagueish outfits on beaches with beach houses behind. Whose the middle one? Anyway, he admits that having a beard was a right-of-passage back to the family/business. It's actually part of the draw to a lot of people...they are rich, but they have come back to their roots of hunting/duck calls/living simply/thanking God.

If you watch the show, this blog is like, "Duh, we knew that, they told us throughout the shows."

ETA: Doesn't mean I agree with the dad's bigoted comments or the underlying sexist tones throughout the ENTIRE show. 

[ghf]

Before they had DD, they also had several hunting DVDs. My father actually owns a few. It's crazy how successful Phil was when he started making duck calls. If you look at old pictures of him, he had the beard (my SO had his book and there are lots of old pictures of the family). Si was always clean cut. He had to be because he was in the military for so long. I personally think Willie saw an opportunity for fame and ran with it. I cannot stand him.

[DirtySouth]

I'm giving this article a huge eyeroll.  I've never watched the show except once for about three minutes while flipping channels, and even I already knew this.  Without knowing what the show was or what it's all about, I'd seen photos before the recent scandal (maybe online or in a magazine - can't remember because I really didn't care) of their clean cut look before the show and knew that the bearded and rough look was entirely for the show.  I couldn't care less.  After all, don't all of us know that ALL reality shows are bullshit?  Hence, the reason that no one from the Bachelor or Bachelorette actually get married?  lol

I think the comments made by what's his face were crass and uncalled for, but think it's really dumb to get bent out of shape over the show not actually being reality.  Come on, we all know that none of them are, and that doesn't stop people from their reality show obsession.

[DirtySouth]

Dec 31, 2013 10:36:58 GMT -5 @publius said:

Dec 31, 2013 10:13:43 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

What they want people to believe, but don't out and out say it: Backwoods family makes a decent-ish living making duck calls.

Reality: Phil (the dude who says the vile things) created and patented a duck call in the 1970s that has made his family millions. He and his brother probably did grow up poor, but the sons did not.

Really? When I first saw the show advertised in Mslaysia it was done so as a show about a family who has created a super successful duck call business. A&E's commercial said that the business itself was worth millions.

So yeah, I thought everyone already knew they had cash.

Again, yes. Without even seeing the show, I knew they were rich.  I mean, it's called Duck Dynasty.  Sort of like a "true life" and modern day Beverly Hillbillies is what I imagined the show to be.

[sydney02]

Dirtysouth apparently not all of their fans know about this because I've seen their fans on Facebook calling these pictures fake. In fact a lot of the fans I know, (and unfortunately I know a lot) think of these guys as down home, good old boys who are bringing back Christian values to America. The redneck schtick is what sells the show. I guarantee they wouldn't have half their fans if they looked like a JCrew ad. So yeah they have fooled a lot of people.
Of course now as the photos are being proven real their fans will say "Oh who cares".
Can you tell how much I can't stand these guys or their rabid fans?

And while reality shows are fake, shows like Real Housewives don't have fans who use them as role models for how America should be.I know a lot of right wing Christians who DO see these guys as role models and that's what makes their fakeness that much more funny to me.