The US Army is has taken a new approach to their recruiting advertising, with a new ad featuring a gay wedding and protests.
Titled “The Calling,” the animated recruiting film gives an idea of how the Army is struggling to recruit a generation with a different mindset towards military service -one that traditionally isn’t all that interested in a twenty-year career in a combat force.
“It begins in California with a little girl raised by two moms,” the narrator, Cpl. Emma Malonelord, said in the video. “Although I had a fairly typical childhood, took ballet, played violin, I also marched for equality. I like to think I’ve been defending freedom from an early age.”
Other featured characters include David, a Hawaiian-native who becomes a rotary-wing pilot; Rickie, a Hatian-born American who grew up in a religious family in Florida; a cruise ship singer named Janeen who joined the Reserves; and Jennifer, a Dominican-American whose parents emigrated to the US.
The feature, meant to target Generation Z, has a bit of a challenge on its hands: according to Bloomberg, only about 29% of Generation Z eligible for military service, with the remainder being deemed unfit for duty due to obesity, criminal records, mental illness, and other factors.
Even though some have criticized the Amry for its new advertisement, the US Army might not be responsible for the new recruiting approach.
The fiscal 2021 defense authorization bill required advertising and marketing to promote enlistment into the armed forces as “representative of the diverse population of the United States eligible to serve in the armed forces.”
While “The Calling” has been lauded by the United States Army and several advocacy groups, social media has been less forgiving, with many drawing parallels to the CIA’s recently criticized recruiting video.
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