I am subscribed to the Gracie Insider newsletter that they send out about every week and I have been noticing a disturbing trend. They seem to be more and more using tragedy to sell their (bogus) product.
Take this one from a week ago for example:
Free Women's Self Defense Seminar in July
Space is Limited - RSVP Today!

A few months ago, a girl from San Gabriel Valley was kidnapped and raped. According to detectives, the suspect came up behind the victim, grabbed her, and forced her into an older, black four-door Mercedes that was parked behind a business. For more information on the assault click here.

6 Techniques Can Save Your Life!
The Gracie Academy is offering a free women's self-defense seminar in July, at the Torrance academy. The special 2-hour seminar is designed for first-time self-defense students and will address six critical techniques to address the following threat scenarios:

•How to break free from an attacker who grabs you without warning.
•How to avoid being taken to the ground by a determined attacker.
•How to escape from underneath an attacker who has you pinned to the ground.
Save Your Spot Today
The seminar is free but space is very limited, so you must RSVP in advance. Absolutely no experience is necessary to participate, and the seminar is open to women ages 13 and up (Note: Anyone under 18 must be accompanied by an adult). If you or someone you love would like to participate in the special 2-hour seminar, contact us using the information below and we'll save your spot today. Also, feel free to forward this information to any of your friends who might be interested in attending.

Torrance Self-defense Seminar
Date: Saturday, July 13 from 2:30pm to 4:30pm
Location: 3515 Artesia Blvd, Torrance, CA 90504
Attire: Casual workout attire.
RSVP: Call (310) 353-4100 or send an email to Jackie@gracieacademy.com

The techniques taught in the special 2-hour seminar are derived from the Gracie Women Empowered program. To learn more about this program or to watch some free Women Empowered instructional videos, click here.
Really guys? Just like that, huh? Just gonna coldly drop a link to a horrible tragedy like that and use it for advertisement? And let's be clear, this is just advertising a product. This free self-defense seminar is nothing but an introductory class so people can see if they like it and then sign up. It is not intended to enable people to save their lives in an attack, and will not. One martial arts class will not improve you chances nearly at all. That comes with lots of training.
What they are doing is just using a horrific event to bring more people into the Gracie money making trap.

I emailed them a WTF letter, and shared it with my friends who did the same. A lot of people on different forums were pretty mad about it. The next newsletter that uses a victim's ordeal to sell their product is at least set up a bit to look like they are just trying to help and not be disrespectful. It is a lot classier than the first one and they offered to train the victim for free. I will give them credit for that, but that is probably only because people made such a stink about the first one. Still though, the second video is just a viral sharing scheme where they basically say "If you want this woman to not have nightmares for the rest of her life and to be able to defend her children, and if you want this bad guy caught, you have to help us advertise! BTW, aren't we great caring people?"


Darned Gracies are just a bunch of classless, greedy, dishonest, conmen, and crap like this really does not make them look any better.