Commentary
What’s the point of an advertising video for killer drones?
This video is not aimed at professionals, but at all of us. It is not an advertisement but an act of intimidation.
The images are blurred, yet one can make out a lone man walking. There are buildings on his left and on his right, some already rubble. The overhead framing – almost certainly from a drone – prevents us from seeing details. He has no name or face; he is simply someone walking. There are no weapons in sight, and nothing in his stance suggests a fighter. But the soundtrack conveys a sense of unease, and one can feel that the man senses danger.
A moment later, a small flying object slips into view. It could be a toy, but clearly is not: the man breaks into a run down a side street, pursued by the killer drone. On-screen captions flash “target identified,” “threat destroyed,” just before the final frame erupts in a flash of light. The swelling music leaves no doubt that the mission succeeded and the target was eliminated.
The promotional clip for the Spike Firefly military drone, built by Israeli firm Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, has been shared around the world. Many viewers reacted with disgust, saying the marketing video had crossed a line that had not been crossed before – though one fears the outrage will soon fade, leaving only an established precedent (why not do the same for a new model of electric chair? There would surely be a market for it).
The issue, however, stretches far beyond decency or taste and will not be settled by appealing to an advertising watchdog. Obviously, it’s not news that lethal hardware is being bought and sold, legally. Although I have never attended an arms industry fair, I assume brochures and demonstration reels for the products are standard, pitched in the sterile idiom aimed at the professional buyers in the sector, who are able to examine data sheets and compare specs across rival products.
But what we saw this week, shared on Rafael Advanced Systems' social media accounts, was not a video designed for professionals. The images are too rough (a good advertiser could do better, with the right tools, in a shooting range) and the accompanying text gives too little information for a buyer. I suppose that if I were a regular buyer of killer drones, I would not be satisfied with grainy images and video game style accompanying text: “target identified,” “threat destroyed.” So who is this video aimed at? Why was it released on social media instead of being shown in a closed room, like in a James Bond movie? I have thought long and hard about these questions, perhaps because I was hesitant to draw the conclusion that now seems inevitable: this video is not aimed at professionals, but at all of us. It is not an advertisement but an act of intimidation.
Some may say I am exaggerating: after all, however repellent, the clip merely displays a weapon’s efficiency, and weapons serve to fight enemies – or so the pundits assure us. Let us address that argument, as if offered in good faith. What unfolds in the video is not combat, but a cold-blooded execution of someone who, by all the evidence presented, could simply be an unarmed civilian posing no imminent threat. He might be a Hamas commander; he might equally be a doctor, nurse, journalist, father, son or husband who left shelter to scavenge for food or retrieve belongings from the rubble.
Tomorrow another figure could find themselves in the same position: a political dissident, a union organiser, a human-rights activist, a homeless man, an immigrant. The message is stark: there is no escape from those who wield such precise instruments of death. You cannot run or hide; the drone will find you, and when it does, human rights will not protect you: “target identified, threat eliminated.” The threat is implicit yet unmistakable: bow your head, or you might meet the same fate.
Gaza is not only Gaza, and the story is not limited to Palestinians. We are watching, live, a social experiment probing the outer limits of moral acceptability, and the failure of many self-styled democracies to mount an effective resistance against those behind it augurs a terrifying future.
Originally published at https://ilmanifesto.it/e-per-noi-la-pubblicita-dei-droni-killer on 2025-07-17