Israeli arms dealer goes Bollywood – uh oh

March 11, 2009 - 2:37 PM by Nicky

Sometimes, just now and again, a YouTube video comes along that is so crummy, that it’s almost a masterpiece. Dubbed the worst marketing movie ever made by the blogosphere, an honor it undoubtedly deserves, this piece by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems has got to be one of the most ill advised advertisements an Israeli company has ever made.

Undoubtedly, if you’re a defense company it must be hard to keep coming up with new and interesting ways to sell your products. I mean how many ways can you sell a missile?

Rafael execs decided they had to do something different, and so for last month’s Aero India 2009 show, they took their weapons, sprinkled them liberally with a seasoning of Bollywood and voila! A Bollywood-style movie featuring a man (Israel), and four dancing girls (India) in full Bollywood costumes dancing between a range of Rafael’s phallic shaped missiles.

I guess most missiles are shaped like this, but it’s not usually something you think about until you see men and women skipping suggestively between them.

The women sings: “I need to feel safe and sheltered. Security and protection. Commitment and perfection. Defense and dedication.” And the man chimes in: “I promise to defend you, fulfill your expectations. Shield you and support you. Meet my obligations.”

And the unforgettable chorus to this meaningful exchange? “Dinga dinga dee…”

Oh dear, oh dear.

The truth is Israel’s defense relationship with India is pretty darn strong these days – Israel recently became the country’s main defense supplier. And the government-owned Rafael is in a particularly good position. Just last August Rafael and Israel’s IAI signed a joint $2.5 billion deal with the Indian Ministry of Defense.

After a period of circling one another tentatively, the two countries have realized they have much in common – particularly in the wake of the Mumbai terror attack last November.

But that still leaves us with a question. Whatever possessed Rafael to make this movie? It’s a question Saurabh Joshi of the Web site StratPost asked a company representative at the Rafael stall. He was told that the video was intended to “help build familiarity between India and Israel and Rafael.”

Not everyone sees it like that. On Wired’s Danger room blog, Noah Shachtman called it “the most atrocious defense video of all time.” While on the blog DEW line, Stephen Trimble, called it a “catastrophic collision of Bollywood and the arms industry, and dared his readers to watch the video “and, if you’re able, immediately erase the awful tune from your brain.”

It’s harder than you think. Dinga dinga dee.

Tags: , , , , , , , , • Category: Blogging, Business, General, Movies 

Comments

9 Comments on Israeli arms dealer goes Bollywood – uh oh

  1. pligg.com on Wed, Mar 11th 2009 3:15 PM

    2. Israeli arms dealer goes Bollywood – uh oh…

    Sometimes, just now and again, a YouTube video comes along that is so bad, that it’s almost a masterpiece. Dubbed the worst marketing movie ever made by the blogosphere, an honor it undoubtedly deserves, this piece by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems …

  2. Jewish Internet Defense Force on Wed, Mar 11th 2009 5:20 PM

    3. hilarious

  3. Reuven on Wed, Mar 11th 2009 9:35 PM

    4. Oh Geez!! What has happened now?!?
    I cannot believe that we have done this yet again- brought in some Tel Aviv Shmuk who traveeled overseas once and thinks he knows the mentallity of the world market. It is not 70s Eurovision buddy.
    For once they should do it like Elbit (great NCW presentation in Adelaide, Australia btw) and put some decent thought into it.
    Fire the entire Marketing Dept before India pulls out of the deal!!!!!

  4. Nicky on Thu, Mar 12th 2009 9:26 AM

    5. Apparently Rafael tries to make videos with a local flavor wherever they sell their products. I’d love to see some of their other offerings…

  5. Reuven on Thu, Mar 12th 2009 9:35 AM

    6. I met today with a Raphael rep at the Avalon Airshow today in Melbourne and when I mentioned it to him he just shook his head and let out a deep sigh…..again I ask – what sort of yuppie Tel Aviv tryhard marketing schmuck came up with this and who signed it off?? Unfortunately it is typical of a lot of the weak and tasteless marketing I put up with for 6 years….and perhaps many more to come. Oh well, atleast the shwarma laffa has taste!

  6. Nicky on Thu, Mar 12th 2009 10:24 AM

    7. So what movie did they do for Australia?
    Something with corks on hats, crocodile wrestling… or maybe something based on the theme of an aborigine walkabout ?

  7. Reuven on Thu, Mar 12th 2009 1:45 PM

    8. They actually didn’t have one…..go figure.
    Elbit did a great job. Almost the same as the Adelaide defense expo as well two years ago.
    What can you say? Raphael simply screwed up this time around. Thankfully the missiles succeed though.

    R

  8. jgarbuz on Sat, Mar 21st 2009 2:51 AM

    9. When it comes to commercial and political propaganda, Israel is simply awful! Absolutely the worst. Hard to believe that the kinsmen of those same Jews who in America practically invented Hollywood, with its slick propaganda and accompanying advertising glitz could be so juvenile, amateurish and inept in little Israel. But having lived and worked in Israel as a technical writer for nearly decade back in the ’80s, I wistfully learned to accept the eccentricities of this crazy little society. How Israelis can be so imaginative when it comes to military strategy, hardware and software, yet so amateurish when it comes to marketing itself and its products is one of those mysteries of nature that some future Jewish psychologist will have to decipher and explain. But it is what it is, and that is Israel.

  9. It’s in your hands | ISRAELITY on Mon, Mar 30th 2009 10:42 AM

    10. [...] if Rafael’s Bollywood advertisement made you give up hope that Israelis could ever do marketing, then hopefully this [...]

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