Weapons Firms Carry Out Ad Blitzes; TV, Print Campaigns Aim to Convince Congress to Keep Programs
As sprightly classical music thrums in the background, the screen fills with grainy film clips of military planes in action. Each one, an announcer intones, was built or designed by Northrop Corp. "Now, the B-2," the voice-over says, as the sleek black vehicle wheels into view. "America's most thoroughly tested new bomber."</br></br>Northrop, which has been running that 30-second ad for the past few days, isn't asking viewers of "Good Morning, America" and "The Tonight Show" to purchase a Stealth bomber of their very own-not at $530 million apiece-but it's doing a selling job nevertheless.</br></br>With Congress preparing to debate the defense budget next week, the Southern California-based aerospace contractor has been flooding Washington's airwaves as part of its lobbying efforts to save the $70 billion project, of which it is the prime contractor.</br></br>In a flurry of local newspaper ads and television commercials, other military-hardware manufacturers are scrambling to raise their profiles, too.</br></br>McDonnell Douglas Corp., the prime contractor on the F-15E, a controversial jet fighter project, for example, has been telling readers of The Washington Post and other publications circulated in Washington that its aircraft "is twice the plane compared to any single fighter." Viewers of Sunday morning public affairs shows have been getting a look at the V-22 Osprey, a plane that takes off like a helicopter, thanks to Bell Helicopter Textron and Boeing-Vertol, its co-manufacturers.