British army ads targeting ’stressed and vulnerable’ teenagers | UK news | The Guardian
▻https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jun/08/british-army-criticised-for-exam-results-day-recruitment-ads
The British army has targeted recruitment material at “stressed and vulnerable” 16-year-olds via social media on and around GCSE results day, the Guardian can reveal.
Paid-for Facebook messages suggested to 16-year-olds that a career in the army would still be open to them if they did not get the grades they hoped for.
“Using Facebook to target the country’s young people unwittingly and exploiting the anxiety of those who may be disappointed with their GCSE results with idealised and unrealistic advertisements is shameful.”
The Plaid Cymru MP Liz Saville Roberts said: “The government’s recruitment ads on social media tell young people that exam results don’t matter. If they truly have potential army recruits’ best interests at heart, they should prioritise their education budget over the army’s social media budget.”
New information released after a written parliamentary question by Saville Roberts revealed that the army spent £1.7m on social media content between 2015 and 2017, the vast bulk of it on Facebook.
Examination of the links to some of the posts reveal that some young people have been targeted in the run-up to GCSE results and on the day itself. Just before results day in August 2015, for example, a Facebook post said: “No matter what your results will be, you can still improve yourself in the army.” It was accompanied by an image of two soldiers on a quad bike riding through surf on a shingle beach.
On 20 August, results day, an image of a young soldier happily driving a military vehicle appeared with the same message.
#Industrie_influence #Armée #Facebook
The following August the army told young people via Facebook: “Whatever happens on results day, we’ll help you learn, earn and stand on your own two feet.” The image showed an open-topped army vehicle during a beautiful sunset or sunrise. Readers were encouraged to click on to a button that took them through to the This is Belonging campaign.