Passengers on the subway told RT that these ads make them think the country is strong, that it needs those sophisticated weapons and that “taxes are going somewhere”.

A really big chunk of taxes, around one-third of American taxpayers’ money, go to the military and to contractors who gear up the military.

They promise dominance and talk about efficiency in killing and complete dominance strategies.

None of the military suppliers who advertise on the metro that RT contacted were willing to talk, therefore none would answer the simple question of why bother buying adverts for commuters to see?

Probably the government agencies which spend the money want people to see that and think that is the norm. Antiwar activists say the money spent on this kind of PR does not go wasted.

“It reinforces the war profiteers’ position and puts it in a positive light when in actuality it’s something that is destroying the American economy,” Dennis Lane from Veterans for Peace pointed out.

For Capitol Hill observers, the expensive ads are a signal to future decision-makers in Congress.

“We pay a lot of money for this ad. We think our programs are important. We know you are watching us – understand also that we are watching you. And if you help us out – we’ll help you out. And that helps also to contributions in general,” Winslow Wheeler, Center for Defense Information, said.

But for most, those signals pass under the radar. Nobody deeply questions the ads and, as with the situation with Washington commuters, it doesn’t take long before what is advertised becomes normal.