What Happened To Shadowhawk Flashlights?

Shadowhawk Flashlights is a now defunct internet flashlight company that primarily operated between the years of 2016 and 2019. While the name still continues to loosely exist on the internet, it's unclear whether or not the original company is still involved.

The company's signature product was a flashlight known as the X800. This flashlight was a white-labeled generic model which had been sold, and continues to be sold, by hundreds of different companies. 

You see, Shadowhawk was never a conventional flashlight brand. They were a fly-by-night infomercial-esque marketing company. The name itself was fabricated specifically for use in a direct response marketing campaign. Similar to late night television infomercials, a group of marketers conjure up a gimmicky marketing strategy, execute the marketing campaign, and then abandon the product whenever the hype dies down.

This is what happened with Shadowhawk.

So, who was behind Shadowhawk?

Based on my research, the infamous Shadowhawk marketing campaign was spearheaded by a company known as Tarr, Inc. This company was operated by three individuals known as Nathan Martinez, Richard Fowler, and Ryan Fowler.

The reason we know this to be true is because the first trademark registration for the Shadowhawk name was filed by a company known as Iron Ads, LLC and corporate records list Nathan Martinez as a manager. In addition to information found in corporate filings, Iron Ads, LLC was indicted by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as a subsidiary of Tarr, Inc. back in 2019 — suggesting the two companies are connected.

Furthermore, Tarr, Inc. was sued by CREE, the LED manufacturer, for falsely claiming that the Shadowhawk X800 contains CREE LEDs when it did not. This pretty much cements the connection between the Shadowhawk X800 product and Tarr, Inc. 

It's important to note that Tarr, Inc. was a reasonably large organization that had been involved in a number of marketing campaigns throughout the years. As far as I can tell, their primary niche is health and beauty products. Back in 2014, Dr. Oz even raided their warehouse when he caught Tarr, Inc. unethically using his likeness to promote their weight loss products.

Needless to say, Shadowhawk was by no means their first rodeo and probably wont be their last.

Where Is Shadowhawk Today?

Based on my research, I think it's unlikely Tarr, Inc. is involved with Shadowhawk at all today. They have likely abandoned the brand entirely and are pursuing other products or other business ventures entirely.

Interestingly enough, a Chinese company known as Shenzhen Mankeda Technology Co., Ltd., filed an application back in June to register the same exact trademark. The logo, description, and product category are all identical according to the filing.

It's possible that Tarr, Inc. is somehow involved with this but I think it's more likely that a random Chinese company noticed that the trademark filing had been abandoned and is now trying to seize control/salvage any remaining equity in the brand name.

I don't fully understand the legality of "hijacking" an abandoned trademark but it does not seem like a terrible idea. While it is true that Shadowhawk largely had a bad reputation, it is also true that they sold millions of units with their logo stamped on the product. Sure, their advertising practices may have been unscrupulous, but the flashlight itself certainly wasn't the worst thing in the world.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is likely the case that Shadowhawk itself no longer exists and the original company does not have any plans to restore the brand. It's likely that a Chinese company will take over the trademark and try to salvage whatever brand equity the name might have left. Either way, Shadowhawk will go down in the history books as another tactical flashlight marketing campaign that proved to be tremendously successful.