Is anyone else sick of those "Mom, I want to join the Army" commercials?

And wonder why all the kids are black?

Duh! I just hope leaders of minority communities are annoyed by the obvious attempts to sucker their kids and speak out.

The main thing that bothers me is that there aren't any Dads in these commercials. This means that they're going after kids of single Moms. Just what a single Mom needs-- a kid who is off in the Middle East, not home helping out.

Problem #2- they make it sound like the kid is going off to "work on the environment".

...the old man says something about "you looked me in the eye."

I hate these damn commercials.

To balance things, out there should be an epilogue:

"By the way son, your cousin Davey's coming home today... he's lost both legs, so he'll need some help getting out of the van. And would you mind driving him to physical therapy over at the VA hospital for the next few months...? Hello?"

"You did two things you've never done before. You shook my hand. You looked me in the eye. Where did you learn that?"

Well, gee, DAD. Maybe the more important question is why the hell he didn't learn that from you? Why the hell did he have to get shipped off to BFE to pick up basic civility?

My first reaction is "why is dad such a hardass that the kid has to face hostile drill instructors and enemy fire to gain the strength to look him in the eye?" That's an unhealthy relationship.

I hate that commercial. What sort of a jackass do you have to be to raise a son who can't even look you in the eye at 18?

That kid is already in the Army. The new ones have kids coming home with the recruiting brochures and a handful of promises.

the kids are black (although I've seen a white boy, the one playing pool with his dad) because that is the target audience for the commercials. They are back to selling the skills training bit of the military, and they are going after lower-middle and middle class kids who have no other real options who's parents are skeptical of the government. Those are overwhelmingly black.

to a theater near you on Jan 27th--

Trailer for the movie "Annapolis"

and they make me think "What if, when I have kids, one of them wants to join the army?" I honestly don't know what I'd do.

I counsel kids against service, now. That anthrax shot series alone is enough to make one pause (and they are going to start that up again, just in time to line the pockets of cronies), never mind the effects of depleted uranium, even if you never get shot at or or blown up.

It's just not the same environment any more, and they no longer treat personnel like 'assets' but instead, more like kleenex--use 'em, and toss 'em.

I hope I'd raise my kids better than to make them want to join the army, but I know that's not fair and I'm glad I bit my tongue. It's not the fault of parents.
Any desire to be in the armed forces is so foreign to me- no one in my family ever was- my uncle was proud to be a draft dodger during Vietnam because he thought it was unjust. The whole thing is just not something I understand easily.

Everyone of age served in WW2, some Korea, Vietnam, and someone in the clan (me, actually) "represented" for many decades up until a short while ago. We have a few Army, but mostly USN. No USMC or USAF...just not the tradition. The subsequent generations, though, are going to stay home--at least until we see a course correction in government.

Our goal was always the support and defense of the Constitution, not prancing off to kill folk for no good reason. It is an honorable job, if the Commander in Chief is wise. When that is not the case, it is nothing short of hellish.

back when I was about a year old.
Dad said "he can't join the army, he has bad knees."
Mom: "what do you mean he has bad knees?" Dad: "If he tries to join the Army, I'll break his knees."

15 months in Vietnam kinda gave him a unique perspective i guess.
Maybe that gives you an idea. lol.

In other words you don't have a life until you joined the goddamn service.

is how much of our tax dollars are being spent on something that is obviously a propaganda tactic to get young men too join......Remember the movie "Dave" with Kevin Kline and at one point he knocks the budget down - one bit I like the best was cutting the commercials that were aimed at making you feel good about the car you had already bought. Fiducial waste!

The one with the kid playing pool with his old man and telling him they wont call unless they need you? I dont mind recruitting i would wish that they'd be honest about it.

Fucking propaganda.

Either appeal to the black kids by letting them think they can get a decent job without getting their asses shot off or blown to bits in a car bomb, or appeal to the right wingers' kids who think they'll suddenly win dad's approval if they look like tough guys.

Convenient how the real danger is never mentioned.

respect. Learn a trade.Overcome parental resistance, in the end they will be proud.

War? What war?

I hate the ad in these times, it's an invitation to die.

"Rebel against your parents, join us, we'll show you things you've never dreamed of. If you survive."

Our Government is now run by Jim Jones.

It's the one where the son and father are sitting outside on the porch, raining and this is what the father says: "Before you got off that train there's two things that you never did before, look at me straight in the eye and shook my hand."

So that's what the army training Soldiers these days handshaking and eye contact. Hell I could of taught him that and you wouldn't have to go to war to do it.

I hate that one the most.

And there's another one that starts off a guy running and he is saying some silly patriotic stuff and than is joined by a handful of other people running and they're all wearing their army shirts.

those by big defense manufacturers...like Boeing or Grumman I suppose weapons are our largest export..and one of the few things left we manufacture.

kids out of enlisting and that the commercials were directed at parents, trying to convince them that their son or daughter would learn all sorts of great vocational skills (tank repair?) and come home more mature (or dead or disabled).

I recall when these ads started and there was an article or two about the thinking behind them. What you state is the marketing problem the army is faced with.

Think about it--they're spending our tax dollars to recruit people for a war that hardly any Americans support. They are using sleazy psychological techniques like this and targeting people in America who have been given little opportunity to begin with.

One of my students who is a minority told me about a female friend of hers who is in Iraq. When she signed up, she remarked, "Well, I can get shot at here or get shot at over there. Over there I at least get paid for being shot at."

Pretty pathetic choice, isn't it?




Cher

However I've seen white kids also.

because college and higher education is no longer part of the American dream.

Now we get this pandering, cloying, crap.

yes- I fucking despise those commercials. They're so damn tasteless. The way they're targetted at kids with few options just makes me sick to my stomach.

I just hope enough kids see through the bull shit.

There's that one where the kid is blathering on to the unseen parent about all the reasons why he wants to join the military before he pauses. Then on the screen you see "Your turn", suggesting the parent is supposed to give them a hearty slap on the back and say "Sure son/daughter, you have my blessing".

Yeah, give them a hug and a kiss, then send them off to become killing machines and possibly die. :eyes:

No matter who is in office, military recruitment commercials have always been like this. The difference is that military force was used in the actual defense of our country or to end genocide.

Oh yea and when Clinton sent forces into Kosovo he had General Clark running the show. Guess how many troops came home from Kosovo in body bags? Zero. Now with Rumsfeld, Cheney, and Wolfowitz in charge we have 2000+ and counting dead.