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US Navy platformed ‘drag queen influencer’ to attract youth to the military in hiring crisis

daftandbarmy

daftandbarmy

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It's like the inter-service jokes are starting to write themselves ;)


The U.S. Navy has revealed that it approached a "drag queen influencer" to help persuade new recruits to join the military.

Yeoman 2nd Class Joshua Kelley, who goes by the stage name "Harpy Daniels," announced back in November 2022 that he was the Navy’s "Digital Ambassador." Kelley has over 1,300,000 likes on TikTok.

While Kelley’s Instagram bio shows that the performer’s opinions "are not endorsed by DoD or DoN," the drag queen claims to have danced in drag for service officers on a number of different occasions, sharing one video from 2018.

The Digital Ambassador initiative that Kelley participated in ran from October 2022 to March 2023 and was "designed to explore the digital environment to reach a wide range of potential candidates," a Navy spokesperson told Fox News Digital. The reason, the spokesperson added, was that the Navy is navigating "the most challenging recruiting environment it has faced since the start of the all-volunteer force."

The spokesperson continued: "The Navy did not compensate YN2 Kelley or any others for being Navy Digital Ambassadors. The pilot has concluded and we are now evaluating the program and how it will exist in the future."

The Navy’s attempts to increase interest among young people comes amidst a historic recruitment crisis. A survey from the Ronald Reagan Institute found that only 13% of 18-29-year-olds are "highly willing" to join the military. Twenty-five percent are "somewhat willing" and 26% are "not willing at all."


www.foxnews.com

US Navy platformed ‘drag queen influencer’ to attract youth to the military in hiring crisis

A drag queen who goes by the name of "Harpy Daniels" was invited by the U.S. Navy to help reach a "wide range of potential candidates" during a difficult recruitment time.
www.foxnews.com www.foxnews.com
 
daftandbarmy said:
It's like the inter-service jokes are starting to write themselves ;)


The U.S. Navy has revealed that it approached a "drag queen influencer" to help persuade new recruits to join the military.

Yeoman 2nd Class Joshua Kelley, who goes by the stage name "Harpy Daniels," announced back in November 2022 that he was the Navy’s "Digital Ambassador." Kelley has over 1,300,000 likes on TikTok.

While Kelley’s Instagram bio shows that the performer’s opinions "are not endorsed by DoD or DoN," the drag queen claims to have danced in drag for service officers on a number of different occasions, sharing one video from 2018.

The Digital Ambassador initiative that Kelley participated in ran from October 2022 to March 2023 and was "designed to explore the digital environment to reach a wide range of potential candidates," a Navy spokesperson told Fox News Digital. The reason, the spokesperson added, was that the Navy is navigating "the most challenging recruiting environment it has faced since the start of the all-volunteer force."

The spokesperson continued: "The Navy did not compensate YN2 Kelley or any others for being Navy Digital Ambassadors. The pilot has concluded and we are now evaluating the program and how it will exist in the future."

The Navy’s attempts to increase interest among young people comes amidst a historic recruitment crisis. A survey from the Ronald Reagan Institute found that only 13% of 18-29-year-olds are "highly willing" to join the military. Twenty-five percent are "somewhat willing" and 26% are "not willing at all."


www.foxnews.com

US Navy platformed ‘drag queen influencer’ to attract youth to the military in hiring crisis

A drag queen who goes by the name of "Harpy Daniels" was invited by the U.S. Navy to help reach a "wide range of potential candidates" during a difficult recruitment time.
www.foxnews.com www.foxnews.com
Click to expand...

My issued DEU socks are long enough to be practically stockings. Am I a quarter way to being a drag queen?


Meme Think GIF
 
Jarnhamar said:
Why not? It sure did wonders for Bud Light.
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And why not make everyone angry too, while you're at it....

Bud Light wanted to market to all. Instead, it’s alienating everyone​


“Bud Light misunderstood their ability to reach out to a new target market and the backlash they would face with some segment of their current market,” said Jared Watson, assistant professor of marketing at New York University.

With the CEO’s response, “they did this half-step backwards, which doesn’t satisfy their existing market.” Meanwhile, “this market they’re trying to appeal to … sees this as an inauthentic move. And so they end up in a position where they’ve satisfied nobody.”

 
This is a complete mess. Bud light missed the mark completely, they pissed off their biggest customer - the hard-working, blue collar white male. Bud Light f**ked around and found out, now they are on damage control. What type of demographic is recruited into the Navy? I don't know for sure, but from the pictures I've seen on board Navy boats, they aren't that far off from your typical Bud Light drinkers, be it white, black or Hispanic. I doubt blue collar workers care that much for men dressing as women, I think it sends the wrong message if you're in a recruiting crisis. A "drag-queen influencer" could essentially tank your core group of people walking through the door just to target a small fraction of a minority. I don't know what this is supposed to accomplish, why not dress up in baseball or football uniforms, more people take to those two sports than anything else in the US.
 
That headline is pretty misleading; he's not a random internet person, he's a USN sailor that did some drag shows on the ships. If you've ever gone to an RN fancy dress party, that's basically another Friday night. If people think this is affecting combat effectiveness, they are doing an awesome job overlooking the impact of lack of maintenance, spares and people, as well as terrible leadership who put their careers ahead of their people and blow smoke up the chain (and people up the chain not doing walkarounds to see things for themselves).

I don't really see this as any difference compared to any of the other personal story recruiting videos that are out there, just that it's being pumped up as a 'go woke' thing. Probably can dial it back a notch, but when people were previously arrested and kicked out, nice to see the pendulum swing back towards not hating people for who they are.
 
Navy_Pete said:
That headline is pretty misleading; he's not a random internet person, he's a USN sailor that did some drag shows on the ships. If you've ever gone to an RN fancy dress party, that's basically another Friday night. If people think this is affecting combat effectiveness, they are doing an awesome job overlooking the impact of lack of maintenance, spares and people, as well as terrible leadership who put their careers ahead of their people and blow smoke up the chain (and people up the chain not doing walkarounds to see things for themselves).

I don't really see this as any difference compared to any of the other personal story recruiting videos that are out there, just that it's being pumped up as a 'go woke' thing. Probably can dial it back a notch, but when people were previously arrested and kicked out, nice to see the pendulum swing back towards not hating people for who they are.
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The problem is, when your brand is losing value, you can't afford to annoy customers.

The perception of going "woke" is enough to convince the core customer(recruiting) base of the USN that the USN has gone "woke". Reality doesn't matter if you can't convince the customer(recruit) to enter the establishment and see for themselves that the navy isn't "woke".

What Western militaries seem to have broadly forgotten is people join for a couple of core reasons. 1) Adventure: people want to see the world, do fun things, meet new people. Show that stuff, but make it realistic. 2) Nationalism: people want to serve their country(God, King, and Country). Emphasize that aspect of the job, and link it to the glorious past. 3) Money: All of us are a bit mercenary, we want to be paid reasonably well for what we do. Direct a portion of the advertising toward that, it will draw people, but isn't the "main attraction".

What doesn't attract people is emphasizing the politically charged, and polarizing.
 
There's a difference between something that passes mostly unremarked upon, and something that is emphasized.
 
@Furniture I agree that's what a lot of people join for, and that's what they have pitched forever. It's also not really working, so every military in the world is trying out new initiatives.

Again though, this isn't new, as YN2 Kelly made some kind of post back in Nov 2022, and the pilot program is now over. This has only become politically charged because some Republicans decided to pile onto the Bud Light debate and pander to the homophobia.

I'm sure there were a bunch of other 'digital ambassadors' who were active service members as well.

YN2 Kelly has been serving since 2016, which is a lot more time in the military than anyone attacking them. The program ran from Oct 2022 to Mar 2023, probably had very little impact either way, and would likely have gone away if these cretins hadn't decided to make an issue of it and create a bunch of faux morale outrage. Look at the list of names that signed the letter and let me know which one jumps out as a morale paragon, and not just a greasy opportunistic leach.
 
Don’t forget the Dumbells!

The Dumbells

The Dumbells. World War I concert party that became, after the armistice, a leading Canadian vaudeville troupe....
www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca
 
Navy_Pete said:
@Furniture I agree that's what a lot of people join for, and that's what they have pitched forever. It's also not really working, so every military in the world is trying out new initiatives.

Again though, this isn't new, as YN2 Kelly made some kind of post back in Nov 2022, and the pilot program is now over. This has only become politically charged because some Republicans decided to pile onto the Bud Light debate and pander to the homophobia.

I'm sure there were a bunch of other 'digital ambassadors' who were active service members as well.

YN2 Kelly has been serving since 2016, which is a lot more time in the military than anyone attacking them. The program ran from Oct 2022 to Mar 2023, probably had very little impact either way, and would likely have gone away if these cretins hadn't decided to make an issue of it and create a bunch of faux morale outrage. Look at the list of names that signed the letter and let me know which one jumps out as a morale paragon, and not just a greasy opportunistic leach.
Click to expand...
I think you missed my point... In October 2022 Drag was already an extremely polarizing thing, which means that at the time the sailor was chosen to be an ambassador the USN was willfully wading into politics with recruiting.

If it hadn't come up because of Bud Light scoring an own goal, it would have come up at another time, because the internet is forever(or at least our lifetimes).

New ideas are great, so long as they don't alienate your core customer base, and are targeting people likely to receive the message well.
 
@Furniture No, I didn't miss your point, I just think it's only polarizing because opportunistic leaches are turning it into an issue, not because it's new. They also only raised it in May after the program was done, and he was only one person in the program, not the whole program.

Men doing drag performances has a storied history in militaries across the world, so it's actually a tradition at this point. YN2 Kelly isn't doing anything new or groundbreaking in uniform, and is still proudly serving from what I understand.

And frankly if someone finds a dude in a dress is intolerable for someone they are likely too inflexible and easily offended to be of much actual use. How many years of actual service do the senators that signed the letter have?
 
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