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Culture

by Mike Masnick

Tue, Mar 25th 2003 1:35am





Operation Sign 'Em Up - Recruiting For The Military In A Digital Age

from the recrafting-the-military-image dept

There's certainly a lot of focus on the armed forced of the US these days, so it's interesting to read about their latest tactcics in trying to sign up new recruits. After realizing that their old advertising campaign just wasn't cutting it, the military has decided to reshape its brand to get some attention from the youth of today. That has meant a cutting edge website, video games, reality TV, and more exciting advertising (many of which we've discussed before0. So far, they claim it's working. While some of this makes perfect sense, I must admit I find it a little scary that people feel our armed forces need to be "marketed" to new recruits. This makes it sound like they're trying to trick kids into joining, instead of letting them make informed decicions about what's best for their lives.

5 Comments | Leave a Comment..


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  1.  

    No Subject Given

    identicon
    Chris, Mar 25th, 2003 @ 5:49am

    I think it makes perfect sense. Kids have no idea what the Military offers. If they are in the public school system it is likely they are getting all kinds of negative information from their teachers and counselors. I'd much rather have the military out there recruiting and bringing in the highest quality kids they can. These are the people charged with defending us. Also, generally speaking, the higher quality the recruits, the better the odds that they can complete their enlistment safely. Darwin's law tends to be particularly effective during wartime.

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  2.  

    Re: No Subject Given

    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Mar 25th, 2003 @ 5:59am

    Yes yes. Send the best and brightest kids to the front lines. Fact of the matter is is that the vast majority of the armed forces will always be made up of the lower, less educated class.

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  3.  

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    Anonymous Coward, Mar 25th, 2003 @ 6:01am

    "Army of One" is the gayest slogan ever.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  4.  

    Long term trend

    identicon
    dorpus, Mar 25th, 2003 @ 8:22am

    The military has no use for uneducated cannon fodder these days; they will rarely admit someone who doesn't have a high school diploma. They want only high school graduates in perfect health, preferably with good grades. The long term trend is for the military to depend more on elite troopers who are as fit as olympic athletes, as well as smart technicians to run the machines. We're in a society now where people from higher classes tend to be in better athletic shape.

    The demography of the US military is already changing; contrary to Vietnam-era stereotypes of ghetto kids, most personnel today are whites from small towns who can't afford college. In another few decades, the military will no longer be a way for working class kids to get educated/trained; it will become a selective institution for college-graduate athlete-techies.



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  5.  

    Re: Long term trend

    identicon
    pampers, Mar 26th, 2003 @ 10:37am

    ...and this meritocracy will afterwards transform in a military dictatorship :)

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


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