Militarization | Bundeswehr Shop: Operation Rubber Ducky
Visits to schools and stands at video game fairs are no longer enough. Now the Bundeswehr also wants to sell merchandise. A comment.
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Photo: dpa In order to fill the barracks and get the fighter jets into the air, the Bundeswehr is looking for young talent - after all, there is a shortage of skilled workers in the country. And to combat the shortage of suitable recruits, she does a lot: she organizes open days and drives in circles in local parking lots in rural middle-class centers; she visits schools and, like the Pied Piper of Hamelin, tries to lure minors into the nearest tank; and for years it has had a huge stand at the world's largest video game fair in Cologne, where the troop presents war material and flight simulators to enthusiastic teenage eyes.
In order to put the olive green icing on this cacophony of Bundeswehr PsyOps (psychological operations) and to normalize the further advance of the military into the everyday lives of people in the country, the Bundeswehr is opening an official Bundeswehr fan shop for the first time on Thursday. Hurray! It's nice to see that the army is doing its part to refinance the special fund.
The military nerd market is a competitive field: There are already a variety of fake Bundeswehr shops online that bring the daily needs of long underpants, combat boots and key rings with iron crosses to the man who lives primarily in the country, is single and "interested in history"...
But part of a professional corporate strategy is a proper market and customer analysis. And here the Bundeswehr should find its niche in the jungle of military and survival online shops if it simply stays true to its previous strategy: by focusing on children and young people. And just like that, the first product to appear in the media as part of the Bundeswehr shop's range is a rubber duck in uniform and with an assault rifle. In order to keep up with the times, we recommend high-quality mouse pads or toy drones that can be controlled with home controllers for little gamers. Or to make the whole thing a touch more realistic: zinc coffins in XS.
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