Recruiting techniques.

[ivymcallister]

The fuckers in the US Army recruitment division are a frighteningly manipulative bunch. The new ad we saw tonight consisted of a very sturdy, upright, blue-collar, pseudo-farmer-type, older-middle-aged man sitting on a porch at night in the rain with his son, who is young, blond-haired and wearing dress blues. It went something like this.

Father: You're a changed man.
Son: How's that?
Father: When you got off that train tonight, you did two things you've never done before.
Son: *looks at Father questioningly*
Father: *poignant pause* You shook my hand, and you looked me straight in the eye.
*They have a "moment"--US Army logo appears briefly on a black screen.*

---------------------------------------------------------------

Well, heck. Yeah, go join up, kiddies, so's y'all can start lookin' *your* daddies in the eye. Because God knows they won't respect you if you don't.

I have my own take on that. I don't see the "screwup kid from a Good American Family joins the Army and finds self-respect." I see, "Decent kid from screwed-up, barely-above-prole, emotionally dysfunctional family runs to the Army to save him from his demanding father." 'Cause god knows it's a hell of a lot easier to face your abuser when you've learned thirteen ways to kill a man with dental floss and a tube of ChapStick.

Comments

[icemachine.livejournal.com]

Army TV spots make me ill. Sodding ad agency mass delusional fakery. And people fall for this crap. They FALL for it.

*reminds self to call Comcast in the morning and reduce cable service to bare minimum*

[ivymcallister.livejournal.com]

We're seeing recruitment spots almost every break on SciFi tonight. I know that enlistment stats are devastatingly low, but wow--they're throwing around some mad $, here.

[icemachine.livejournal.com]

What I'd like to know is, who falls for this caffeine'n'coke driven ad agency bullshit anyway? Fewer and fewer by the sounds of it. I just don't suppose that 'truth in advertising' ever really got anyone's attention. Maybe it's time to try it.

[icemachine.livejournal.com]

I should clarify; I know people DO buy this spiel...but what type of people?

[ivymcallister.livejournal.com]

...but what type of people?

Maybe the type who still believes that we found WMDs in Iraq. Men whose buttocks clench into a single ball of heterosexual panic when they see an advert for Queer Eye on TV. Guys who voted for Bush, I'd hope.

And, less appropriately, kids with no prospects who won't see a dime of college $ without signing on the dotted line in the recruiter's office. Those kids might not "buy" it, but they'll still be buying a bullet alongside the dumbasses who think that joining the Army is the only way to earn the respect of their family and friends. If that's their reality, they need to re-think their motivation because familial respect is NOT worth their life.

[ladyholmwood.livejournal.com]

ROTFL Sad but true.
::knows the ancient art of Tae Kwon Chapstick::

[woggie.livejournal.com]

Excellent point. Now how do we cram that context into that advert so we can post it all over the Net?

[geeksdoitbetter.livejournal.com]

have you seen the job wanted ads?

i've run across several very tasting positions on jobcircle - only to find the database needing administering is on a navy vessel