The British army is calling on “snowflakes, selfie addicts, class clowns, phone zombies, and me, me, millennials” to join its ranks in a recruitment drive targeting young people.

The campaign, featuring posters and TV ads titled Your Army Needs You, suggests that what is seen as a weakness or a character flaw by the rest of society can be seen as a strength by the army. The campaign states that the army could use the “compassion” of “snowflakes”, the “self-belief” of millennials, the “confidence” of selfie takers, and the “focus” of phone zombies.

The army designed the campaign to show that it looks beyond stereotypes and “sees people differently”, and recognises their “need for a bigger sense of purpose”, according to the British army’s Maj Gen Paul Nanson.