Newsletters
Germany's armed forces, the Bundeswehr, have begun advertising for recruits on doner kebab wrapping paper distributed at Berlin food stands, the latest recruitment tactic as the military works to expand its ranks amid what officials describe as a growing threat from Russia.
Customers picking up a doner kebab in Berlin's Lichtenberg district and elsewhere are now finding a career pitch tucked between the meat, garlic sauce and red cabbage.
The wrapping paper comes in camouflage colors bearing the slogan "Einmal Karriere mit alles", "One career with everything," a play on a common doner order, according to the Berliner Kurier.
The paper carries a QR code linking to bundeswehrkarriere.de, a website recruiting soldiers nationwide for the medical service.
Asked about the campaign, the Defense Ministry said it seeks potential applicants wherever they spend their everyday lives, "from social media to the train station," or, in this case, the doner shop.
"With a wide range of advertising tools, we reach not only young people in their career orientation phase, but also career changers and skilled workers who want to make a professional change and could see themselves with a future at the Bundeswehr. This portfolio also includes so-called 'ambient' measures. The doner bags fall under that," a ministry spokesperson said.
Kebab shop operators receive nothing in return for displaying the ads beyond the packaging itself, according to the ministry.
"The operators of the food stands voluntarily agree to the use of the advertising materials provided, and thus to their distribution. The restaurants receive the branded packaging free of charge," the ministry said.
Four thousand doner bags retail online for just over €30, an expense the participating shops now avoid, according to the Berliner Kurier. Both sides benefit modestly. The Bundeswehr gains attention, and the kebab shops get free packaging.
This is not the Bundeswehr's first venture into fast-food advertising.
In 2025, the military advertised on pizza boxes in southern Germany with the slogan "Hast Du auch viel drauf?" (roughly, "Do you have a lot going for you too?"), a pun referencing pizza toppings.
How effective this style of recruitment advertising actually is remains difficult to quantify.
The Bundeswehr says it cannot demonstrate a direct link between individual advertising campaigns and subsequent applications, noting that career orientation often takes months or even years and that numerous other factors influence career decisions.
Still, the military has recently reported record numbers of applications and enlistments, with double-digit growth rates, among whom, the outlet noted, may well have been a doner enthusiast or two.
The doner campaign comes amid a broader Bundeswehr effort to expand its ranks.
Germany aims to increase the number of active-duty soldiers to 260,000 by 2035, up from about 183,000 at the end of last year, and to double its reserve pool to at least 200,000 members by the mid-2030s.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz told military leaders last year that Germany needed to become capable of defending itself as quickly as possible and needed more soldiers.
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has said Berlin's ambition is "to be Europe's strongest conventional military," describing the military strategy as a "living document" while noting automation and artificial intelligence will continue to shape planning around troop numbers and required qualifications.
In July, the German government approved a draft law allowing the mandatory call-up of military reservists for training, abolishing a previous requirement that both the reservist and their employer agree to the call-up. In exchange, the military plans to make reserve service more attractive and give employers a longer notice period.
In March, Henning Otte, the parliamentary commissioner for the armed forces, said recruitment remains the Bundeswehr's biggest problem and that Germany may need to reinstate conscription if a voluntary recruitment scheme fails to attract enough people, Reuters reported.
Set as preferred source
Set as preferred source
4 min read
