Currently running is a recruiting commercial for the USAF, and it’s targeting those who might join their special forces. There are four commercials in this series, but the one running now, which catches my eye, is one in which a young American goes to rescue his sister’s backpack after it has fallen into a river and is carried over a waterfall by the currents. Our prospective hero jumps off into the unknown depths to retrieve the backpack, with a fast-forward to a young AF SF Parajumper saving lives in a stormy sea, with a subtitle of the ‘we’re looking for you’ type.
The really jarring thing in the visual montage is the legal weasel inclusion at the bottom of the screen during the leap of faith into the water to save the backpack: “professional: don’t try this”, or words to that effect.
Now, what is it they’re after? Are we trying to outlaw boldness? What possible good will those weasel words do, except (hopefully) alert the prospective applicant about the organization they’re about to join? If you want bold applicants, appeal to them, don’t try to hide behind meaningless weasely declarations. I want that young hero out there, I don’t need any more legal warnings about how things that look dangerous might actually be dangerous.
