Military recruiting ads zero in on mom
and don't even mention the military's use of
depleted uranium weaponry <sigh>
Military recruiting ads zero in on mom, dad
Parents, many of whom never served, are told of benefits
- escramble('jgarofoli','sfchronicle.com');">Joe Garofoli, Chronicle
Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 18,
2005
With public support for the Iraq war dropping and military recruits becoming
harder to attract, the Pentagon started an ad campaign Monday that skips
patriotic images and focuses on the difficult conversations that young people
have with their parents about joining up.
The $10 million campaign by the military's marketing arm urges parents to
"make it a two-way conversation" with children looking to join the military. In
four 30-second spots on cable networks and in print ads in publications ranging
from O, The Oprah Magazine to Field and Stream, the appeals urge parents -- many
of whom, the Pentagon realizes, have never served in the military -- to learn
more about the services.
Military officials say the ads aren't a response to falling poll numbers and
emphasize that they have long tried to connect with people the Pentagon calls
influencers -- parents, coaches, teachers and other adults who affect a
potential recruit's life.
However, in contrast to past campaigns, the new ads focus less on a patriotic
call to military service ("Uncle Sam Wants You") and opportunities for
self-advancement ("Be all you can be"). The military's market surveys told them
that families wanted a different reason for their children to join.
"Patriotism resonates with everybody," said Air Force Maj. Rene Stockwell,
chief of joint advertisements for the Joint Advertising Market Research and
Studies, which helped produce the advertisements. "But just because it resonates
with someone doesn't mean that they'll recommend military service."
The ads are being released at a time when peace activists are trying to limit
the military's access to potential recruits in public schools. One such
activist, Gail Sredanovic of the group Raging Grannies, said the new campaign
glosses over the disadvantages of serving in the military, especially during a
war.
"If you want information about a car, you don't ask the used car dealer,"
said Sredanovic, who lives in Menlo Park. "You ask Consumer Reports."
In all of the four TV commercials released Monday, the camera takes the point
of view of the parents. Shot in the no-frills style of a public service
announcement, each ad features a teenage boy or girl looking directly into the
camera and pleading the case for joining the military.
The parents are silent, their gaze occasionally wandering to a child's
bicycle in the yard, or to their hands fumbling nervously with a salt shaker, or
to people gathering on a street corner. Stockwell said this was meant to convey
the awkwardness of the conversations.
"Mom, you know how I love being on the water, right? How I love the
environment?" a young man asks his mother as they talk on their back porch. "I
can be part of an environmental response team working on oil cleanups and stuff.
I'm serious about this.
"So what do you think?" the young man asks. A voice-over urges parents to
"make it a two-way conversation" and points them to the military's Web site www.todaysmilitary.com.
The site, Stockwell said, is aimed at a generation of parents who "aren't as
likely to have served in the military and don't have that firsthand knowledge."
The site is designed to supply that knowledge with sections like, "Myths vs.
Reality."
Another spot begins with a mother scanning a kitchen table covered with bills
and calculator as her daughter tells her that she wants to join as a way to gain
experience for medical school. "It will be good for my career," the daughter
says.
In another, a young man is working on a car in front of a home.
"C'mon, Dad," he says into the camera, "You always said, 'Finish what you
start.' " The son says he already has discipline and determination -- "I need a
place where they can come out, where they matter.
"Dad," the son says, "talk to me."
As advertising, the spots are "quite powerful and emotional," said Betsy
DePalma Sperry, managing director of Grey San Francisco, an advertising firm.
But Sperry said the ads skirt the issue that would worry a parent most -- the
possibility their son or daughter will die in combat.
"I think there's a need, therefore, to call a spade a spade: You're going in
to serve a higher calling at great risk," Sperry wrote in an e-mail. "I know
this would recall earlier messaging of patriotism, which may not play to current
audiences, but I question whether any such conversation -- informed or otherwise