I am... in awe. And not quite sure what else to think.

[gelbes_gilatier]

This is the German Armed Forces' newest image/recruiting video ad (the catch phrase is "Wir. Dienen. Deutschland."/"We. Serve. Germany." and though I don't really know what to make of the periods I'm slowly starting to warm up to the phrase.Very slowly. Maybe.) :

What do we think, people?

Good? Bad? Ridiculous?

(One thing that really shook me: the pictures of the official funerals. Even though it's aimed both and improving the image and recruiting, it took a lot of balls putting them in there. Any of you non-Germans ever seen something like that in any of your Armed Forces' recruiting ads?)

Comments

[sgteam14283.livejournal.com]

I've seen a few for the US Marine, Army and Air Force. Over the years they've changed (although not the Marine on, it's still the same shot of the guy climbing freehanded while there are images on the side) and they really focus on how tech-forwards they are and what you can do.

And I can say that I would never see anything like what Germany did in our ads...

[gelbes-gilatier.livejournal.com]

After a little more careful analysis (after the initial "OMGWTF they can do something that will not embarrass them!", I mean), I'm still amazed that they put their emphasis on the word "serve", not on what you can do or about the tech involved. I still find it pretty ballsy showing in a recruiting ad that serving also means dying, if push comes to shove.

I might do a translation of the captions tonight, so if you're interested, maybe look out for an edit to this post in a couple hours.

[sgteam14283.livejournal.com]

I agree that it was a ballsy move, although when you sign up you know that there is the possibility of being KIA but at the same time you never think that it's going to happen to you...until it does. Also so much of the press coverage (at least here in the states) is how many people have died since the start of the war. So in that respect, the ad is openly acknowledging the fact that so many have died in a conflict that is widely covered by the media.