US marine recruiting campaign pitches chaos

A recruiting campaign launched by the US Marines Saturday pitches the service as a way to help people in the world's trouble spots. The campaign, which uses advertising and social media, is titled "Toward the Sound of Chaos," The New York Times reports. Gen. Joseph Osterman, who heads the Marines recruiting command, said a survey by a marketing firm found that helping people is an important value to young people. "There is a subset of millennials who believe that the military is an avenue of service to others, not only in our nation, but also in others faced with tyranny and injustice," Osterman told the newspaper. Commercials include footage of Marines delivering aid in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake and helping in other countries hit by natural disasters as well as going into combat. The first commercial shows a generic trouble spot with smoke, the sounds of weapons firing and distant screams. That is followed by the arrival of the Marines and their military equipment. "Most people hear the sounds of chaos and run in the opposite direction," a voiceover says. "But there are a few who listen intently for these sounds, not in the hopes of hearing them, but to help rid the world of them." The narrator ends with a question: "Which way would you run?"