RAF shot down over ‘Gen Z’ recruitment video utilizing phrases like ‘slay’ and ‘very demure’
The Royal Air Force came under fire after it released a video aimed at their younger ‘Gen Z’ audience, using several slang words which same thought were an ’embarrassment’
The RAF has been shot down for spouting ‘Gen Z’ slang in a recruitment video – including the phrase: ‘Slay. Feeling boujee?’
They are faced with one of their worst recruiting crises in recent times have resorted to down-with-the-kids banter in a bid to lure in the young. An Instagram video to promote Cosford airshow in Shropshire describes it as `very mindful, very considerate, very demure’ – referencing a social media post which has become an internet catchphrase.
The video, which has thousands of likes, features Squadron Leader Chris Wilson, of RAF Cosford, reading a script penned by a `Gen Z marketing expert’. The RAF bigwig calls the airshow `the dopest event of 2025’ which is `giving main character energy’.
He adds: “Tired of cheugy Air Shows with no rizz? Aight bet. Cosford hits different.’’
He closes the film with: “Slay. Feeling boujee?’’
The video mirrors a comedy sketch from TV’s The Armstrong And Miller Show in which RAF WW2 pilots speak in upper class accents but use modern teen lingo such as `blud’, `like’ and `innit’. One ex-serviceman said on Instagram of the new video: “It isn’t clever, it’s sad. Is this the standard the RAF wishes to set?
“Please reflect on your traditions and history. You are a combat arm of the nation’s military, not selling trainers to sixth formers.’’
Another wrote: “The Battle of Britain to this, just makes everyone who serves embarrassed.’’ Colonel Philip Ingram, a former Army Intelligence officer, said: “Whoever is advising them of communications strategy, never mind who signed this video off for release, needs to be removed from post immediately.’’
The furore erupted as it emerged instructors at the Royal Navy’s HMS Raleigh training centre in Torpoint, Cornwall, have been given a glossary of Gen Z terms so they can talk to folk born between the late 1990s and early 2010s. The leaflet asks: “Are you able to communicate with everyone: English? Jack Speak (slang used by the Royal Navy)? Gen Z?’’
It lists dozens of words they may need to know including “cheugy – uncool things that are either out of style or trying too hard to be in style.”
Other key words are ‘slay’, which means “succeeding or looking great’ and ‘swag’ – “confidence or charm.”
If someone is `boujee’ they love the `luxury and comforts of a fancy lifestyle’, it adds. ‘Aight bet’ means ‘alright, you bet.’
The Royal Navy, Army and RAF have failed to meet their recruiting targets every year for the last 10 years. Last month Defence Secretary John Healey warned for the past year the Armed Forces have been losing 300 more full-time personnel each month than they have been recruiting.
“In the last year service morale fell to record lows,’’ he added.
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