'Are we an American colony now?' Italians' fury after their navy uses English to urge recruits to 'be cool' in new publicity campaign

• Marina Militare, Italy's navy, launched prominent poster recruitment drive
• Campaign uses the slogan 'Be cool and join the navy' in English, not Italian
• MP Fabio Rampelli told parliament campaign had 'wounded patriotism'
• Advertising expert said English use was like 'putting ketchup on macaroni'
• Defence minister rebuffed criticism, saying it appealed to younger people

By Steph Cockroft for MailOnline

Published: 21:10 EST, 23 February 2015 | Updated: 02:54 EST, 24 February 2015

Italians have reacted furiously to a navy publicity campaign which uses English to urge recruits to 'be cool' and join the force.

The prominent recruitment drive, which has been plastered across billboards and posters around the country, uses the phrase 'Be cool and join the navy' to entice would-be sailors into joining the Marina Militare, the official name for the Italian navy.

The defence minister behind the campaign said the language would appeal to the younger generation, who have grown up communicating over the internet.

But a wave of right-wing MPs and commentators have blasted the campaign, claiming it has 'wounded patriotism' and sparked 'anger and disgust'.

Controversial: Italians have reacted angrily after the country's Marina Militare - the navy - launched a recruitment campaign using the slogan 'Be cool and join the navy' in English

They are incensed not only by the use of English on the posters, but also by the use of the word 'navy' as opposed to the official Marina Militare.

Others are outraged by the phrase 'be cool', with one chiding: 'Are we an American colony now?'

Fabio Rampelli, an MP with the right-wing Fratelli d'Italia, told parliament the slogan was 'unacceptable' and that defence minister Roberta Pinotti should be suspended for 'wounding patriotism'.

He said: 'I ask myself how it came into the mind of the Italian navy to launch, with our money, a campaign in the English language to recruit young people.'

He had first started speaking in English, before switching to Italian and saying: 'If I continued like that the Speaker would have stopped me.'

The campaign uses photographs which show young Italian commandos hard at work. There are also images of Italian warships travelling through the water.

The phrase, which is written in English rather than Italian, appears on campaigns and posters which depict young commandos as underwater frogmen (left) and hard in training (right)

Fabio Rampelli, an MP with the right-wing Fratelli d'Italia, said the Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti should be suspended for 'wounding patriotism' through the campaign

But Basilio Catanoso, an MP from Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, said the poster caused 'anger, annoyance, disgust and sadness'.

He added that it had been upsetting to see the Marina Militare 'transformed into the navy' and that the force must push for progress in its weapons, rather than its use of language.

Annamaria Testa, an advertising consultant and communications expert, also told Italian newspaper La Repubblica that there were plenty of Italian phrases which could have been used as an alternative to the phrase 'be cool'.

According to The Daily Telegraph, she said the use of the phrase was 'like putting ketchup on macaroni'.

The promient campaign, displayed all over the country, also shows Italian warships travelling through water

Dozens of Italians have also criticised the campaign, using the navy's Facebook page to express their derision.

One wrote: 'Are we now an American colony?' while another said: 'How can you claim to be proud of our country if you do not use even more our national language?'

In response to the criticism, Mrs Pinotti defended the move, saying the campaign was meant to appeal to tech-savvy young people who grew up interacting online.

'English was chosen because it's a differentiating factor compared to the traditional image of the navy,' she said.

She added that applications had risen by 20 per cent compared to last year.