Boeing and Bell Helicopters have issued an apology for an advertisement in the National Journal, a Washington based magazine for government insiders. This follows a complaint by the Council for American-Islamic Relations about an advertisement in the September 24 issue. It showed a CV-22 Osprey swing-engine helicopter hovering above a mosque with US special forces descending onto its roof in an obvious battle scene.
The advertisement (here in .pdf format) has the headline
“It descends from the heavens. Ironically it unleashes Hell”
As well as a list of the manufacturing partners in “Team Osprey” – the ad reads;
“Before you hear it, you see it. The CV-22 delivers Special Forces to insertion points never thought possible. It flies faster. It flies further. Consider it a gift from above
The apology from Boeing reads in part
We consider the ad offensive, regret its publication and apologize to those who like us are dismayed with its contents,’….
“‘When the Company became aware of the advertisement we immediately requested that our partner’s agency withdraw and destroy all print proofs of the advertisement and replace it with one that was appropriate, Unfortunately despite our best efforts to have the ad replaced, a clerical error at the National Journal resulted in its publication this week.
The British partners in the project, BAE Systems and Rolls Royce Aero Engines, have stated they were not consulted over the advertisement despite their names appearing in the list.
The advertisement could even be an encuragement to commit war crimes
The penetration …. [of places of] a religious character for the purpose of hiding out and/or carrying out acts of hostility, are a gross abuse of the immunity and the special protection granted to such places.
Such acts are grave breaches of the First Additional Protocol (1977) to the Geneva Conventions, and constitute war crimes by any standard of international humanitarian law.
That by the way is an Israeli government statement about the use of churches as sanctuaries.
The advertisement is even more offensive being published in the lead-up to the holy month of Ramadan. For Boeing and Bell helicopters it is even more stupid with their large sale to Arab and other muslim countries. The expalanation that this advertisement’s placing was a “clerical error” is even stranger. Surely if this is what their agency is really thinking about how it should be marketed but was afraid to say so, perhaps it just confirms the current Bush administration’s vision of themselves as “Crusaders”.