The British army has targeted recruitment material at “stressed and vulnerable” 16-year-olds via social media on and around GCSE results day, the Guardian can reveal.
Paid-for Facebook messages suggested to 16-year-olds that a career in the army would still be open to them if they did not get the grades they hoped for.
Campaigners against the recruitment of child soldiers accused the army of cynically trying to recruit young people at a time when they are worried about their results and future prospects.
Rachel Taylor, the director of programmes at Child Soldiers International, said: “Targeting army advertisements at teenagers when they are stressed and vulnerable is abhorrent. These adverts prove once again that the MoD is deliberately targeting children at the lowest limit of the legal recruitment age to fill the lowest qualified, least popular and hardest-to-recruit army roles.
“Using Facebook to target the country’s young people unwittingly and exploiting the anxiety of those who may be disappointed with their GCSE results with idealised and unrealistic advertisements is shameful.”
The Plaid Cymru MP Liz Saville Roberts said: “The government’s recruitment ads on social media tell young people that exam results don’t matter. If they truly have potential army recruits’ best interests at heart, they should prioritise their education budget over the army’s social media budget.”
There has been growing concern about some of the army’s tactics for drawing in new recruits. The Guardian revealed last year that it had targeted young people from working-class backgrounds in a glossy recruitment campaign called This Is Belonging, despite claiming to aim advertising at all socioeconomic groups.
New information released after a written parliamentary question by Saville Roberts revealed that the army spent £1.7m on social media content between 2015 and 2017, the vast bulk of it on Facebook.
Examination of the links to some of the posts reveal that some young people have been targeted in the run-up to GCSE results and on the day itself. Just before results day in August 2015, for example, a Facebook post said: “No matter what your results will be, you can still improve yourself in the army.” It was accompanied by an image of two soldiers on a quad bike riding through surf on a shingle beach.
On 20 August, results day, an image of a young soldier happily driving a military vehicle appeared with the same message.
The following August the army told young people via Facebook: “Whatever happens on results day, we’ll help you learn, earn and stand on your own two feet.” The image showed an open-topped army vehicle during a beautiful sunset or sunrise. Readers were encouraged to click on to a button that took them through to the This is Belonging campaign.
On exam day itself the message appeared: “Got your GCSE results? With 200+ roles available, talk to us about your next step today.”
Not all Facebook users were taken in. One replied: “Yes man … If I get Fs in all my subjects I’ll get an A in the army.” Another wrote: “I love how they time this just before results day!”
The Guardian revealed last year that a briefing document on the This Is Belonging campaign spelled out that the key audience was 16 to 24-year-old “C2DEs”, marketing speak for the lowest three social and economic groups.
The document also made it clear that while the campaign was UK-wide, there were “up-weights” to cities in northern England including Manchester and Sheffield and to Birmingham, Belfast and Cardiff.
British soldiers are not allowed to be sent to war zones until they are 18. Campaigners such as Child Soldiers International claim 16 and 17-year-old soldiers have higher rates of mental health and behavioural problems than older recruits and receive lower standards of education than their civilian peers. Critics also say they are more likely to be injured in training.
The UK is the only country in Europe to recruit soldiers at 16. In the US the minimum age is 17. The UN committee on the rights of the child is among the organisations that have challenged the UK’s position.
Would-be recruits can apply when they are at least 15 years and 7 months old. The army points out, however, that if a young person decided to apply after poor GCSE results, the earliest they could start as a junior soldier at the army foundation college in Harrogate would be the following March so there would be a cooling-off period.
Junior soldiers are allowed to leave within the first six months of their contract if they have been in the army for more than 28 days.
The army defended the Facebook messages. A spokesperson said: “It should be no surprise that, like most major employers, our recruitment campaign applies some focus on individuals leaving school, college and university, as this is when they make career decisions.
“As the UK’s largest provider of apprenticeships, the army is proud to offer all education leavers the opportunity to better themselves while enjoying an army career.”