Image obtained via an Access to Information Request

The Canadian Forces wanted a recruitment campaign with a "feminine tone." You know, shots of lady soldiers "putting on make up, etc."

Instead, they got heavy gay overtones. And that just wouldn't do.

This is all according to internal documents from the Canadian Forces, obtained by VICE through an Access to Information request.

Working with the Montreal wing of the Ogilvy advertising firm, the military was looking to run an ad campaign that would "increase the number of women from 16.2% in 2014 to 25.1% in 2017," reads the August 2014 documents from the "women's campaign," prepared by Ogilvy.


"Women are generally less inclined to consider the Canadian Armed Forces as a viable career," the ad agency notes.

The resulting online and print campaign showed female fighter pilots climbing into fighter jets, ship captains checking ship things, and doctors treating children.

"More adventures. More friendship. More fulfilment," reads the tagline.

But the Forces thought maybe there was a bit too much friendship in the proposed ad campaign.

They took issue with one ad, featuring two female service members hugging each other and smiling.

"There was a concern that the photo implied a romantic relationship," reads the document. "It was suggested that a group shot would be more appropriate, but we felt that this would have less 'poster power,'" the ad agency writes. "Our recommendation is to stay with a photograph of two women, but have them pose in a way that clearly suggests nothing more than friendship."

Obviously, the Canadian Forces shouldn't be shying away from looking inclusive for non-straight personnel, especially given the fact that many openly gay service-members fought for years, and won, the right to have their sexual identity respected by the Forces.

Also, the Forces don't exactly have the best record with judging who or what is-and-isn't gay. They spent decades interrogating allegedly gay members of the military, hooking them up to the "fruit machine"—an actual thing—to try and divine which team they played for.

Non-straight members of the military were considered targets for Soviet blackmail and were bullied and fired from the Forces.


Things have improved significantly since then. Openly gay members of the military—and their families—are welcome into the Forces and while straight bravado culture still may remain, the military generally has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to homophobia.

So it's pretty unclear as to why the top brass had a problem with Sue and Peggy holding each other close.

The macho culture also means frustration for women in the Forces, however. A report from 2015 looking into sexual assault and harassment in the military decried a "sexualized" culture that can be hostile to women.

The direction of the female recruitment campaign were not exactly confidence-inspiring.

Amongst the feedback that Ogilvy got from the Forces was that the ads use a "brighter, more feminine tone to be more attractive to women."

The Ogilvy report ended up including that, for some TV spots: "in general, we like the idea of showing the woman preparing for the interview (putting on make up, etc.), as it adds a feminine touch."

The eventual video produced an ad with such selling points as "you'll have a help striking a healthy work-life balance"—because you really can have it all—and "more self-esteem," although that line was cut during editing.

And, out of fear that it may spook the weak sex, the ad agency decided "we will avoid showing weapons and will slow down certain shots." There will, however, be shots of "women being active, on duty, laughing as a group. Intense gazes into the distance."


If I know women—and I don't—they love laughing as a group and gazing intensely into the distance.

The eventual ad campaign, posted on the Forces website, appeared to get a bit beefed up from the storyboards presented by Oligvy. At one point, a woman opens fire with a semi-automatic rifle on the side of a warship, filling the ocean full of holes like a goddamn badass.

It's not clear if the lesbian-y ad ever made it to print.

Even if there are a few dumb ads, Canada is in the minority of countries worldwide that maintain no formal barriers for women who want to service in the military. So we're still better than England.