The US magazine “Vice” has published documents from the US military. These are concrete action proposals on how the US military aims to reach a new generation of recruits. Call of Duty and Twitch played a significant role.
What is it about? The US magazine Vice has secured documents that list action proposals from the US military on how to reach a new generation of recruits (PDF via s3.documentcloud.org).
The documents date back to late 2021, and many of the plans were not implemented as outlined in the documents. However, the records still provide insights into how the US military aims to specifically target the young generation.
Particularly, Call of Duty and Twitch were at the center of these efforts, but also the wrestling league WWE. MeinMMO shows you more details on the topic.
“Reaching the youth where they are, and that is online”
What does the US military hope to achieve with this? The aim of the proposed measures was to better reach the young “Generation Z”. This usually includes people born between 1997 and 2012. Another focus is on women, African Americans, and people of Hispanic heritage.
A spokesperson for the US military explained to Vice:
The goal of army marketing with sponsorship is similar to all our advertising investments. Namely, reaching a specific market to support army recruitment. Advertising that is memorable and popular is important, as both are industry-recognized benchmarks for the effectiveness of the advertising and sponsorships we acquire. In army marketing, we must reach the youth where they are, and that is online.
Statement from the US Army to Vice (via vice.com)
They want to use the channels to convey the army’s values to young people and showcase the opportunities a career in the military could offer.
Vice reports that this could also be a reaction to the COVID pandemic – it has hindered the usual, direct paths of recruitment.
Call of Duty & Twitch as Focus
What proposals were made? The document particularly focuses on Call of Duty and Twitch. The listed sponsorships rarely include amounts under $100,000.
One proposal was to support the “HBCU Showdown” on Twitch with $1 million. The esports league primarily targets “Historically Black Colleges and Universities”.
The wrestling league WWE is also noted in the plans, with a proposed support of $675,000.
However, Call of Duty frequently appears in the documents:
- The Call of Duty: League was in the running with $750,000
- The CDL team OpTic Chicago was mentioned with $300,000 in the documents
- CoD Mobile had a chance at $200,000
Additionally, specific individual streamers were proposed:
- Swagg
- an influential African American Warzone streamer
- Alex Zedra
- was “Mara” in CoD MW 2019
- Stonemountain64
- plays CoD with army role-playing
Activision scandal likely prevented some sponsorships
What was actually implemented? This cannot be said for sure. What is clear, however, is that over one million US dollars intended for the Call of Duty: League were not paid out. Due to the scandal surrounding Activision and Blizzard, they saw no helpful advertising partner here.
Also, some payments to Twitch apparently did not materialize. In a statement to Vice, the platform stated that “Twitch Ads” did not receive sponsorship for certain streams or for the “HBCU Esports League” in 2022.
Since the documents are only strategy papers with action proposals, no further concrete payments can be derived from them.
In the everyday life of Americans, the military is much more present than it is for us. How do you assess such measures from our German perspective? Write us a comment on the topic.
The US Army and also the Navy have already made several attempts to establish stars on Twitch themselves. However, in some cases, this did not turn out well: Trolls, the constitution, and a political star drive the US Army off Twitch
