Recently I have been seeing a growing amount of television ads for the military that seem to be directed towards a younger and younger audience. The ads themselves are what I have the biggest issues with. The ads I am speaking of are specifically for the Air Force. The ads have the production value of a high end movie, glamorizing how the military is not just science fiction, but real life. The videos are made to look like someone is almost playing a video game, showing slick new technology that looks like it is straight out of a video game or science fiction movie. The ads are specifically designed, from my view point, to make the people who play video games, or the younger audience, think that if they want to live real life science fiction, or want to actually live the video games they play, the best way to do this is to join the military.
In no way shape or form am I trying to belittle the soldiers or even the military, my family has had a proud run of people who have served in the military. My father is a Vietnam vet and my brother was a Marine. The issue I have is with the military ads themselves and how they are pandering to our youth by glamorizing the military like it is just some video game the kids can play. Joining the military is a big life altering decision, one with serious consequences and hefty choices, it is not something to be taken lightly like these ads are making it seem to be. Pictures of space commanders averting a deadly satellite disaster and soldiers walking on a red planet just seem to me to be in bad taste. I remember the days when the recruiting ads for the military dealt with the heavy decision of whether or not you should join the military with tact. I remember specifically an ad that ran where a young man and his father were talking to each other about the decision the boy was making about joining the army. Sentimental as it was it at least looked at the choice with a serious attitude, it did not pander to whimsical fantasy worlds and did not encourage our children to join the military simply by making it look like some hip video game. Is this really the way we want to advertise our military, making it into some kind of joke?
It is clear to me what the advertising executives were thinking when they made the ad, lets make all those slackers out there who are playing video games and watching movies think that if they join the military they can be part of those games that they play. It is also clear that they think they can recruit a whole new generation of kids, who think that they are watching the advertisment for a new video game, look at the military like it may be the cool place to be. Is this really how we want to sell our military? What happened to the honor and the respect that we should show towards those that make the decision to protect our country? Its seems to me that these new advertising campaigns take away from the respect and honor we have for our military. To me it seems that they disgrace the good name that the military has and those people that have made a very serious decision to protect our country. Lets try to treat it with some form of respect and not make it into a clear marketing campaign designed to pander to the lowest common denominator, making our military into nothing more than some glorified video game is disrespectful and demeaning.
In no way shape or form am I trying to belittle the soldiers or even the military, my family has had a proud run of people who have served in the military. My father is a Vietnam vet and my brother was a Marine. The issue I have is with the military ads themselves and how they are pandering to our youth by glamorizing the military like it is just some video game the kids can play. Joining the military is a big life altering decision, one with serious consequences and hefty choices, it is not something to be taken lightly like these ads are making it seem to be. Pictures of space commanders averting a deadly satellite disaster and soldiers walking on a red planet just seem to me to be in bad taste. I remember the days when the recruiting ads for the military dealt with the heavy decision of whether or not you should join the military with tact. I remember specifically an ad that ran where a young man and his father were talking to each other about the decision the boy was making about joining the army. Sentimental as it was it at least looked at the choice with a serious attitude, it did not pander to whimsical fantasy worlds and did not encourage our children to join the military simply by making it look like some hip video game. Is this really the way we want to advertise our military, making it into some kind of joke?
It is clear to me what the advertising executives were thinking when they made the ad, lets make all those slackers out there who are playing video games and watching movies think that if they join the military they can be part of those games that they play. It is also clear that they think they can recruit a whole new generation of kids, who think that they are watching the advertisment for a new video game, look at the military like it may be the cool place to be. Is this really how we want to sell our military? What happened to the honor and the respect that we should show towards those that make the decision to protect our country? Its seems to me that these new advertising campaigns take away from the respect and honor we have for our military. To me it seems that they disgrace the good name that the military has and those people that have made a very serious decision to protect our country. Lets try to treat it with some form of respect and not make it into a clear marketing campaign designed to pander to the lowest common denominator, making our military into nothing more than some glorified video game is disrespectful and demeaning.
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