US Army mocked for using apparent Lana Del Rey quote in recruitment advert

The US Army has been mocked for using a quote that it attributed to Lana Del Rey as part of a recruitment advert.

On Saturday (January 22) a post on the military’s Twitter account read, “‘Being brave means knowing that when you fail, you don’t fail forever’ – Lana Del Rey”, which was accompanied by a photo of a female soldier crawling on sand during a drill.

Musicians including Lucy Dacus made light of what people online highlighted as a “random” quote by the US Army, writing: “I would like to thank this post for convincing me to get a lobotomy.”

Others cast doubt on the quote’s credibility. A fan account claimed: “Lana Del Rey not only never said these words, but also refused to promote military recruitment and canceled a whole high budget music video you were supposed to sponsor. Stay away from her.”

That note appears to corroborate with that of author and director Dylan Park, who suggested that Del Rey wouldn’t have approved of the message. “Lol years ago I was going to direct a LDR music video,” he wrote.

“The theme was WWII to present-day military Americana. Like some Marilyn Monroe USO shit. The Army was going to finance it. Tanks, helicopters, the works. But Army wanted to use the video for recruiting and LDR said fuck that.”

Lana Del Rey
Lana Del Rey performs live in 2019. CREDIT: Daniel Knighton/Getty Images

The US Army’s tweet also caught the eye of those in politics. US Republican political commentator Dinesh D’Souza wrote: “This is an extremely low standard for the military of a great nation to aspire to.”

Right-wing talk show host Jason Rantz added: “Our Army is doomed if a Lana Del Rey lyric is supposed to bring in recruits.”

The US Army is yet to respond to people’s reactions – nor has Del Rey.

In other Del Rey news, the singer-songwriter has released a new song, ‘Watercolour Eyes’, which features in season two of HBO’s hit teen drama Euphoria.

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