British army battles for the hearts of snowflakes and bloggers to fill jobs gap in 2020

Instagram addicts, viewers of Love Island, selfie lovers and gym bunnies are often millennial fashionistas addicted to social media and reality TV – but are they ready for a tough life in the line of duty?

In a subversive twist on normality, the British Army is making use of this modern social mindset for a new recruitment campaign to get such stereotypes “to join its ranks.” The campaign is being rolled out this week on Twitter, Facebook and mainstream media.

In one of the ads aimed at young women, the image shows a jigsaw of toned physiques and implies that make-up, fake tan and lip fillers only present a temporary fix to gain confidence. Critics online, however, question the authenticity of the ad and ask if promoting the army to the ‘body beautiful’ and potentially vacuous snowflake generation is the best way to gain army recruits.

Nick Terry who works for Capita, developed the ‘Army Confidence Lasts A Lifetime’ recruitment campaign and said the creatives devised the ad for young people who normally wouldn’t “see the army as their first port of call.”

He added: “The recruitment campaign evolves each year, and we are looking to build on the success of last year where applications reached a five-year high and 1.5 million people visited the recruitment website in January alone. We had to go with a slightly different message. They needed a bit more persuading and convincing that the army was right for them.”

According to research conducted by The Prince’s Trust and Deloitte, 54 per cent of 16-to-24-year-olds lack self-esteem, and 46 per cent feel inadequate. So is joining the military one way to combat the zeitgeist epidemic of body-dysmorphia-meets-social-media shallowness?

The British army is currently facing a long-term decline in numbers, with almost 8,500 vacant positions. But do those who support an ego-centric lifestyle have the country’s best interest at heart?

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace believes that a career in the army can be an ideal step for many young people: “The latest Army recruitment campaign reflects these unique opportunities and I hope it will build on the success of last year’s campaign, which led to a record number of applications in recent years.”

Whether becoming soldiers will give selfie lovers a narrative is debatable, but for those simply wanting to lose weight and get fitter, senior officers have also revealed that the army will be running a four-week boot camp for those who fail to meet the selection guidelines.

Let’s hope every army-worthy snowflake’s dry January and radical new diets for 2020 are doing well.

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