Fun fact: Lockheed Martin advertises the F-35 during football games, because even though most of the audience isn't in the market for massive government contracts, the people who are are watching.
I suspect the Ring mass surveillance ads are the same thing.
It’s not just for purchasers… it’s to build consensus/approval around the concept of the US military-industrial complex.
Is the same idea around why companies like Coke make ads. Does anyone seriously think Coke needs brand recognition? LOL
Car companies do this too. Frequently expensive cars are advertised to people who could never buy them. The ad makes them associate it with luxury. That helps rich people associate it with luxury because luxury is often based on a social consensus.
Maybe all ads are made to sell you things, but the thing being solid is always an idea. Sometimes that idea isn't as simple as "go buy this now"
Ahh, the old "I want to own this because you know you can't".
Veblen goods are status symbols, and something can't confer status if nobody else knows they're supposed to be awed by how expensive it is.
These sorts of advertisements make no sense for me. Who is the buyer? Some senator on some appropriations committee? Maybe some nato equivalent? And they need a 10 second flyover during a superbowl to be reminded of the existence of the f-35 program?
With your tax money. With your votes.
They're there not to sell you a plane directly but to make you happy with the money spent. To make you excited about the machines.
Think of it as a political ad, not a sales ad
Is there a way an American can vote to not buy F-35s?
> Who is the buyer?
Who do you know who is currently sitting in a seat of massive power in the US Government, watches TV and says things like, "I need to have that! Why do we not have that already? It will project strength, and all the best governments project strength at every opportunity!"
Again, 99.999% of the viewers aren't really in the position to finance a $120 million fighter jet. However, the ~0.001% that are in that position will probably be watching, and feel FOMO for not having the iPhone of strike fighters.
Even if it only moves the needle on 2-3 sales every decade, the ROI is probably great.
I'm just saying, that random saudi prince or whatever with $120 million and the green light to buy military hardware is probably well aware of the f35 already. Plus only plane nerds in the know are going to know what the hell just flew over. For everyone else its a military jet shaped jet same as the rest.
The Super Bowl fly over was kind of random. My son said it was f18s, f35s, and f15s. I was able to make out the two b1bs. It was like the air force forgot about the flyover and just scrambled whatever was on the closest tarmac.
This seemed like a standard flyover. What struck you about it being random?
Caveat: A non-trivial number of air assets are currently stationed or assigned on the other side of the world right now.
Citation: I used to be involved with flyovers.
USAF also has a pilot shortage. Could have just been whatever the available pilots were certified to fly.
They had several days in advance of training together. It was all planned in advanced.
https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/4384084/air-...
Given your description, its good to see the USAAF are clearly on the ball when it comes to security. If, say, all your B1s overflew the nutjob bowl then certain planners across the world might decide to act in a certain way. A random assortment leaves everyone guessing.
You could have a 9 plane fly-by of just B2s, and you’d still have less than half our operational stock committed (disregarding maintenance/readiness issues).
Using a few planes for a fly-by, particularly of anything other than B2, wouldn’t possibly “give away” any info.