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                                      Recruiters target tech-savvy teens


                        Sophisticated ads, polls target young risk takers as Tories seek to boost military enlistment



Allan Woods
Ottawa Bureau
TheStar.com
April 23rd, 2007


OTTAWA–Potential recruits to the Canadian military are more likely to read People or Maxim magazine, watch action films, lift weights and have a Hotmail email address, according to government research obtained by the Toronto Star.

A taxpayer-funded opinion poll appears to expose a sophisticated effort by the federal government to boost the number of Canadian soldiers at a time of great political pressure on recruiters. The plan targets teens as young as 16 through magazines, movies, the Internet and market research to try to find those most willing to join the military.

"I know they're going to all the sporting venues. The last I saw, they were even recruiting snowboarders down at Whistler," said Bob Bergen, an assistant professor at the University of Calgary's Centre for Military and Strategic Studies.

"These people take risks and they want the risk takers."

The Canadian Forces' task is difficult, to say the least. The poll shows most Canadians have no interest in serving their country in war or in peace.

But this has not stopped Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government, which promised in last year's election to boost full-time soldier totals by 13,000 and the number of reserves by 10,000. Since the Tories were elected in January 2006, the military has almost tripled spending on advertising, according to hundreds of government contracts examined by the Star.

Since then, the military has spent $27.7 million on ads designed to boost enrolment. That is almost three times the $10.2 million spent on ads in roughly the same time span under the previous Liberal government and suggests the Department of National Defence is engaged in a major air war, with potential recruits as the target.

"You have to think about money. But when it comes to war, it's a question of, `What is a soldier's life worth?'" Bergen said.

"You want to get them the best equipment and you need more of them, and spending that kind of money sure beats conscription."

Capt. Holly Brown, a recruiting officer at CFB Borden, said dramatic ads that began airing last October are a response to focus groups that said they wanted realism and a better illustration of the life of a Canadian soldier.

"They show what we're doing overseas. They show what we're doing in domestic operations, on humanitarian missions," she said, adding that Canada's mission in Afghanistan appears to be helping, rather than hindering, recruiting efforts.

"We're seeing very highly motivated people coming in. They've seen the ads. They like the ads."

In addition, the military is paying top dollar to track the views, pastimes, habits and even email providers of teenagers who might consider enlisting. The Star has obtained one such opinion poll commissioned by DND in January at a cost to taxpayers of $156,000.

Pollster TNS Canadian Facts told respondents it was conducting a "work and leisure" survey on behalf of the federal government. It was actually putting together a 372-page survey to help the military better target its recruitment efforts among 16-to-34-year-old Canadians.

The inquiries show a clear attempt by military thinkers to build a profile of likely recruits as well as find a way to reach them with expensive, flashy advertisements that liken the fight in Afghanistan to a Hollywood film.

"We're quite scientific about what we do," said Yannick Beauvalet, acting director of marketing and advertising with the Canadian Forces. "We do a large amount of research and so we try to be a bit more scientific about it than we have in the past. And the campaigns are a lot more targeted and a lot more specific to those predisposed individuals in the demographics that we're looking for."

The most likely recruits listen to pop or rock music on the radio; prefer action or comedy films but rarely attend movie theatres; spend between 5 and 10 hours on the Internet in an average day; and have a Hotmail email address.

Recruits like hockey – watching it on television or playing it – but are not necessarily muscle heads. Twenty five per cent of those likely to join the military prefer listening to music in their spare time, while others enjoy reading (21 per cent) or spending time with family (20.2 per cent). Of magazine readers, People or Maxim magazine are the most popular.

But government polling confirms how tough that recruitment job is. Of the more than 3,000 respondents, 92 per cent said they were unlikely to seek out the military for a full-time career, compared with just 6 per cent who said they were interested.

Even as a part-time job, in the reserves, 88 per cent they were not interested.

Brown said the military exceeded its recruiting goal in 2005 by 6 per cent and suggested there is optimism of a similar result for 2006. The promise of an education in return for a promise of military service was enticing for 23 per cent of respondents.

Appeals to military tradition within the family are also a draw for young recruits.

A second poll obtained by the Star preaches the merits of public military events in increasing awareness and interest in the Canadian Forces. Conducted in February for DND by Ipsos-Reid, the research looked at how Ontarians viewed the military.

Of those contacted, 63 per cent said seeing a Canadian Forces community event, such as the Snowbirds acrobatic flying unit, or a recent ceremony at a Leafs hockey game, increased their understanding of the military.

One in 10 said it sparked an interest in pursuing a career in the Canadian Forces. Of Canadians between 16 and 34 years old, 23 per cent said they were interested in a military career.

http://www.thestar.com/News/article/206084