Navy turns to drag queen in effort to boost Gen Z recruits

WASHINGTON (TND) — The Navy hopes a drag queen will help them attract more young people to the armed forces.

Active-duty sailor Yeoman 2nd Class Joshua Kelly, whose alter-ego is drag queen Harpy Daniels, was named the Navy's first digital ambassador. Kelly posts TikToks about the Navy's welcoming culture to LGBTQ+ sailors.

A Navy official told the Daily Caller this was part of a 6-month campaign for reach a “wider audience” as the military struggles with recruiting Gen Z.

Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., worries it will backfire.

"It’s really divisive and I think that infusing politics into our military is really destructive," Schmitt said. "It is driving people away. We’ve heard from military members who have come forward. They don’t like it."

Thirty-year Navy veteran Cully Stimson worries the Daniels partnership will have a similar negative impact on recruiting.

If the Navy thinks that that is going to attract the type of person that wants to serve in uniform in the Navy, they are just so woke and so missing what people who want to serve want," said Stimson. "I think it shows an abysmal lack of judgment by senior leaders in the military."

The Navy is anticipated to miss this year’s goal by about 8,000 recruits.

Criticism of the military’s partnership with Daniels echoes Bud Light’s controversial collaboration with trans-activist and TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney. Both campaigns attempted to use inclusivity to broaden their reach, at the risk of alienating their base.

Backlash from the Mulvaney partnership caused sales to drop 21.4% compared with the same period last year. At the same time, competitors Coors Light and Miller Light increased sales by about the same margin.

Parent company Anheuser-Busch is working on a marketing reset. They've released new ads to target traditional customers.

The company is also giving a case of Bud Light to every employee of an Anheuser-Busch wholesaler.