RATE THIS EXAMPLE FROM "BENEFICIAL" TO "HARMFUL"
BENEFICIAL HARMFUL
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Army recruitment campaign
Background Information
The campaign provided was an effort made by the British army in 2019, and it appears that their target audience would be millennials, considering the choice of language used for their message. I believe the message in this advertisement is to join the army, as it uses rhetorical phrases tailored to appeal to the target audience, such as “Phone zombies: your army needs YOU and your focus; me-me-me millennials: your army needs YOU and your self-belief; class clowns: your army needs YOU and your spirit.” From this message, it is clear that the purpose of this campaign is to encourage millennials to join the army through the use of manipulative satire, as it intends to birth the belief that they have significant attributes the army is lacking without their help. I would classify the genre of this example to be a meme, as it not only incorporates humor in an attempt to reverse-psychologically inspire recruitment, but is also graphically designed to reflect what popular contemporary memes look like. In terms of media, this campaign would be classified as an example of a digital poster, as it appears on a variety of digital media platforms, though it visually resembles a print poster.
Technique Used
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This is propaganda because
This is an example of propaganda because it demonstrates a strategic and intentional form of communication, aimed to influence attitudes, opinions, and behaviors for a political purpose through the transmission of a loaded, one-sided message. The ethos of this example presents itself in the approach taken by the British army to relay their message, as they deliberately chose to channel the typical youth-bashing ammunition of raging intergenerational battles, and used stigmatizations of millenials as an attempt to cultivate their attention and gain their compliance. This campaign created from desperation is a clear indicator of the authors’ weak credibility. The pathos within this example is embedded within the part of the message that reads, “your army needs YOU.” This phrase invokes a feeling of importance, especially by referring to the army as “your” army; this creates a sense of unity between the audience and the purpose of the message. The authors carefully constructed the words of this campaign to make millennials feel as though it is their duty to be the change the army needs. I think this example is a harmful piece of digital rhetoric, as it throws negative assumptions commonly made about millennials back in their face in a condescending manner, and has the potential to come across as offensive.
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