Saturday, July 17, 2010

go slaughter

Yes, I know, critiquing military recruitment ads is like shooting fish in a barrel.
They could have at least coloured the 'after' pictures more excitingly instead of the same washed out blue of the 'before' offices... blood red for example.
Then again, perhaps they're going for some realism about how drearily disciplined it all is. At least my messy desk is tolerated in normal offices.
I know some of you are thinking 'all very well you being a smug liberal but the armed forces make your lifestyle possible'. Well perhaps the ads could better communicate the vital work they're doing rather than making the whole thing look like a slightly longer joyride than Speed 2.

8 comments:

  1. I agree that colour scheme and glue used on the posters is weak. However the motivator, a more exciting life, has to be a good one. It's surely better than doing your country a service. I'm afraid you're not the target with your interesting life and altruistic nature. Maybe a couple of guys hugging would be an even better choice? http://www.economist.com/node/16160781?story_id=16160781

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  2. A big ship that looks like it goes 5 knots max and a rubber ducky? This represents a more exciting life? I think not.

    BTW - where's the post for today???? I need my daily procrastination.

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  3. Thanks Andrew for the interesting article on how the motivation for courage under fire is love. And sure, the promise of a more exciting life is a good motivation to join up but that's my point: what are the ethics of luring people into a job which is largely about killing and being killed (yes, I know about exceptions like the ocean SAR operations) by making it solely about adventure?
    Ninah - I'm committing to updating twice weekly at this stage (I've just put it on the header :-)) ... next round is up late Wed, in time for Thurs morning!

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  4. Ninah: not sure if you noticed but the rubber ducky is turning a really sharp corner.

    The NZ defence force isn't about killing, its about security. And diplomatic tokenism. When was the last projectile fired in anger from a frigate? Surely WWII?

    Can you seriously be anti-military? If you were PM, and a ruthless dictator who didnt have to worry about polls, would you can the defence force altogether?

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  5. no I'm not anti-military, they seem to be a necessary evil. Hence the last par of the post. Last shots - Vietnam maybe?? http://www.nzherald.co.nz/royal-nz-navy/news/article.cfm?o_id=439&objectid=10112511

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  6. So you would target the ads to necessarily evil people, and non-evil but capable of evil people secondarily :)?

    A senior officer once explained to me that the reason we don't just hire the mongrel mob as mercenaries to protect the state is that they aren't disciplined, they can't be trusted... so maybe you should qualify the brief to honest evil people.

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  7. no - I think they should pitch them to people who want to make a difference - for good! :-) - saying: hey, we're what makes things possible and some of what we do is delivering emergency aid and rescuing people. Also: this is a serious business. Not some big adventure.

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  8. also - to take the flippant out - I didn't mean it's the people in the military who are the necessary evil, but the need for the armed forces themselves.

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