SAN FRANCISCO, CA — A Marine Corps recruiting station in California has released a controversial recruiting poster that some have hailed as "progressive" and others as "tasteless" and "vulgar."

The poster's creator, Marine Gunnery Sergeant Gary Bingham, said the ad was aimed specifically at the gay community, of which he is a proud member.

"We've known for the longest time that our recruiting ads were hopelessly unrealistic: fighting the lava monster, climbing the mountain to meet the ghosts of World War II — nobody can relate to those," Bingham told Duffel Blog.

"I remembered a few years ago we had this commercial nicknamed 'Blackwater', about one of our dark green Marines who couldn't swim. Everybody got pissed when we made it, but after the story turned out to be real ... well, then they got really pissed, but our recruiting in the African-American community skyrocketed. People were like — 'Hey! Here's some guys who tell it like it is!'"

"And so I took the same attitude with my project…