New Zealand targeting kids in recruitment campaign

According to an article in The Dominion Post, the New Zealand Defence Force is targeting children in its recruitment campaigns. The New Zealand Defence Forces have spent NZ$20m on advertising in the last three years, including a "new push" to get kids thinking about "exciting opportunities" in the military, so the Dominion Post. Part of this budget includes a new reality TV show aimed at children. Defence Force director of strategic recruitment, Commander Nigel Philpott, said continuous recruiting prevented a ''black hole'' in training. ''One of the scenes is 12-year-old kids jumping out of aeroplanes in a tandem parachute," Philpott said. "It's a very exciting TV show which is going to engage a new generation of people to just think about exciting opportunities. It's linked to a youth website called operation HQ.''

New Zealand's Defence White Paper 2010 states in relation to recruitment: "Economic conditions have seen the NZDF in recent years meet most of its recruitment targets. The size of the NZDF when compared with the overall population of New Zealand, and the NZDF’s recruitment efforts, including through various youth-related programmes, means that it should be able to meet future requirements."

The New Zealand Defence Forces recruit on average 15,000-17,000 new recruits every year.

Sources: The Dominion Post: Kids targeted in defence ads, 1 August 2011; Ministry of Derence: Defence White Paper 2010, November 2010