The Army has delisted its advertising campaign titled “The Calling” on YouTube, making it harder to find the videos on the platform.
The 2021 effort to court potential applicants from LGBTQ+ and other diverse backgrounds sparked a backlash from conservative lawmakers and pundits.
“The Calling” was delisted from the service’s YouTube channel last week, hiding it from search results and recommendations, according to Laura DeFrancisco, a spokesperson for the Army’s marketing arm, who said usage rights for music were set to expire.
One of the ads, called “Emma,” featured a soldier who operated Patriot missile systems and was raised by a lesbian couple.
The series of ads focused on individual, personable, real service members from diverse backgrounds as a way to appeal to the shifting demographics of Gen Z.
They were based on the idea that relatively low-ranking soldiers pitching service might be more trustworthy to potential applicants skeptical of institutions than corporate jingles or generic images of troops jumping from planes.
The service also delisted some ads from its “What’s Your Warrior” campaign, a slick series of ads highlighting the Army’s different job opportunities, particularly those in science and technology.
. . . “The Calling” spot featuring a female soldier raised by two moms in California immediately sparked the ire of Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill and partisan media.
The military, particularly the Army, has increasingly become a target in the political culture wars, with the GOP attacking the Biden administration over what it sees as liberal policy creep.
“The Calling” was made exclusively for YouTube. It became a flashpoint amid the growing political criticism and is still routinely referenced on conservative media — and on Capitol Hill as recently as December.
“Why do we have an Army in a recruiting crisis. … What data drove ‘The Calling?'” Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., asked defense officials at a hearing on recruiting shortfalls last month.
It wasn’t the first time the campaign has been brought up in congressional hearings by Republicans. But the Army has been increasingly distancing itself from the ads.
“I don’t know the genesis of it. Or why they … ‘The Calling’ was before me,” Agnes Schaefer, assistant secretary of the Army for manpower and reserve affairs, said in response to Waltz’s questioning. . . . (read more on Military.com)
Leave a Comment