U.S. Army’s $11 Million Deal With The Rock Backfires Spectacularly

https://www.thedailybeast.com/us-armys-dollar11-million-deal-with-the-rock-backfires-spectacularly

30 comments

  1. Full details :

    > The U.S. Army’s $11 million advertising deal with Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and the United Football League reportedly yielded no new recruits and may have actually hurt recruiting efforts, according to documents obtained by Military.com.

    > The contract, which was signed earlier this year, required Johnson to post five Army ads on his Instagram, with each post was valued at $1 million. He only posted two. Meanwhile, all branches of the military continue to struggle with recruitment, falling short by 10,000 soldiers in 2023, according to Military.com.

    > “In terms of The Rock, it’s unfortunate he was pulled away at a time when we expected him to be present with us to create content for his social media channels,” Col. Dave Butler told Military.com. That said, “The Rock remains a good partner to the Army,” Butler added.

    > The UFL, a minor league competitor to the NFL co-owned by Johnson, would have placed military ads during games and on players’ uniforms, but the deal was “so catastrophic,” as described by Military.com, the army projected it may have lost as many as 38 enlistments.

    > Low attendance at UFL games also fueled concerns over the deal, according to Military.com.

    > The documents show the Army wants to recoup $6 million from its UFL deal and $5 million from its deal with Johnson.

    > Laura DeFrancisco, a spokesperson for the Army Enterprise Marketing Office, passed on an interview with Military.com and told the outlet that the documents were taken “out of context,” but did not comment on whether there were factual errors.

    > The failed deal comes after the Army National Guard blew $88 million on a deal with NASCAR, that also yielded 20 recruits, according to USA Today.

  2. > The U. S. Army’s $11 million

    **Tax payers’** $11 million…

  3. Considering this and the failed Jonathan Majors as campaign, maybe we stop pissing away tax payer money on celebrities.

  4. I’m a daca recipient and was in ROTC in high school, maybe, just maybe if we daca recipients would get a chance at serving in the forces the recruiting numbers might get slightly better. So many of us actually wanted to join but found out we couldn’t. :/

  6. I feel like ever since he decided he wanted to be the head of DCEU without anybody asking him and then black adam bombing, he has gotten knocked down a few pegs, which is honestly good for anybody especially someone with an ego as big as his.

  7. Again, most marketing is done to justify the existence of the marketing department. Surprised they didn’t report some impossible to validate BS metric to show what a success it was.

  8. This would be funny if it wasn’t my tax money.

  9. “Where do you want your tax dollars to go?”

    “Well, I’d like to see…”

    “IT DOESN’T MATTER WHERE YOU WANT YOUR TAX DOLLARS TO GO!!!!” 🎤🎤

  10. Or, and I know this is a pretty fucking radical idea. Use some of that money to find out why enlistment numbers are for shit, and you know, fix the fucking problems.

    Signed, a US Navy veteran.

  11. 2 of 11 ads required. Sounds like breach of contract and he owes us taxpayers a cool 9 mil.

  12. I get the feeling that Dwayne Johnson is a pos with a planet sized ego, but maybe that’s just me

  14. Seems like a lot to spend on the football advertising for that league. Rock making some posts may be cost efficient so curious why he didn’t meet the obligation.

    But advertising won’t solve why folks aren’t enlisting.

  16. Why not take that money they’re using to get celebrities to advertise for them and instead use it as enlistment bonuses?

  17. Oh well. Back to spending tens of millions of dollars advertising with the NFL.

  19. Army veteran here, OEF ‘08-‘09.

    Our country is so badly fractured socially and politically, with our very core institutions being called into doubt in ways that were unimaginable when I enlisted in 2007. Kids nowadays can also look back on our preposterous 2-decade “global war on terror” and it’s clear that’s not doing the recruiting effort any favors either. To think that we could put lipstick on a pig and inspire people to join up… with a social media campaign from The Rock… was always a stupid idea. People in the required age demographic view our government as a shitshow, which it is. Can’t advertise your way around that.

    Gen Z’ers ain’t gonna run down to the recruiting office because Toby Keith made it sound cool in a song. These kids nowadays are smart and focused on living their best lives.

  20. All he would of needed to do is 5 posts with competitions like The Rock vs Marine on X course and I’d watch that lol

  21. Could’ve just given new recruits enlistment bonuses instead. What a waste of money

  22. 11 million, what’s that, like one Hummer?

    Edit: it’s 3% of the cost of one F-22

  23. $11 million would go a long way to help homeless addicted vets suffering from the trauma of war, not some jacked up wannabe.

  25. Gets paid millions to make five posts on instagram, only makes two. What a great guy.

  27. Not a fan of this guy. Seems like an egomaniacal douche to me.

  28. 1 million per post on the internet. who’s paid opinion should ever be worth that fucking much?

  29. You give me 11 million dollars I’ll bring you 200 new enlistments. Guaranteed!

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