In These Times: Kids LOL @ Navy Recruiters

[marmar]

Features > November 23, 2007
Kids LOL @ Navy Recruiters
By Aaron Sarver

Teenagers, be warned: Military recruiters have armed themselves with “Wat up, dude?” and “nmu” in their effort to lure you to Iraq. (For those who lack daily interaction with teens, “nmu” means “Not much. You?”)

As headlines reveal that the military is lowering standards to meet its recruiting goals, the Pentagon is trying new techniques to connect with Millennials—those born between 1980 and 2000, formerly known as Generation Y.

In September, the website Entropic Memes reported that attendees at last spring’s Annual Navy Workforce Research and Analysis Conference were given a slideshow presentation titled “The Road to a 2025 Total Force: Talkin ‘bout Their Generation.”

At the presentation, ad executive Arthur Mitchell, director of strategic planning for Campbell-Ewald, the agency behind the Navy’s Accelerate Your Life campaign, talked about the inability of Navy recruiters to connect with today’s young people.

Millennials, he explained, are “narcissistic praise junkies” and “a somewhat alien life force.” To help recruiters communicate with such bizarre life forms, Mitchell presented a pop culture quiz, asking recruiters to identify members of Green Day and the Black Eyed Peas (two popular bands). In addition to getting them up to speed on today’s music, he showed them the ins and outs of text messaging and emoticons. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3417/kids_lol_navy_recruiters/

[mikeytherat]

1. Green Day? Black Eyed Peas? Years behind the curve, right out of the gate.

"Dude, is the military, like, you know, awesome?"

"Totally, man. To the max!"

:rofl:

mikey_the_rat

[AlertLurker]

5. Marines are "the shit," right?

ROTFLOL!!!

[blondeatlast]

2. First a soccer, now a helicopter mom... (This article is a must read, btw)

Damn these parents--cautious about who influences their kids (like military cultists...).

Mitchell underscored that Millennials are tightly bound to their parents. A slide titled “The ‘Coddled’ Generation” explained that these young people were “raised by active, involved, ‘helicopter’ parents who challenge poor grades, negotiate with soccer coaches, visit college campuses, question employers, etc.” (The term “helicopter parent” means someone who hovers over their kids, ever ready to touch down and help out.) The challenge for recruiters then is not only to convince the kids, but also their parents. “This generation actually likes their parents, somewhat of a departure from previous generations,” Mitchell said.

Recommended.

[YOY]

3. I liked that article: The kids know BS

Smart kids. Patriot BS them all you want, they know BS when they see it. How they logic it out is beyond me.

[marmar]

6. Yup....I don't think most teens are even giving the military even a cursory glance these days.

n/t

[symbolman]

4. Yeah, its got nothing to do with

the fact that it's a bullshit phony "war" that an asshole lied our country into to enrich himself and all his Oil and Defense buddies.. I'm sure that doesn't enter into it at all...

I like to think that my Celebrated Flash attack ad, that was made into a commercial and shown all over cable on the East Coast helped to KILL the whole Army of One ad Campaign..

It was called Army of One too, only it ended with a single grave, and the Voice over, "if WE can support the Troops, Why can't BUSH? Or is THIS what they mean by Army of ONE?"

It was one of 14 Finalists at the Moveon.org's Bush in 30 Seconds contest, was introduced by Michael Moore, and I was on the Scarborough show MSNBC, where he showed the ad Nationwide BEFORE the winning entry..

Takebackthemedia.com, my site may just have killed that damn Army of One bullshit for GOOD :)

[xchrom]

7. kick

[DemBones DemBones]

8. I liked the line about an Army of One being better off

joining Blackwater.

It's quite true; their pay is much higher than military pay, and they must get benefits as well.