Ladies and gentlemen, grab your popcorn because we’ve got ourselves a real blockbuster of a fiasco here. Picture this: the Army decides to drop a cool $11 million on a marketing deal with the United Football League (UFL) and none other than Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. The goal? To boost recruitment numbers. The result? A marketing catastrophe so epic, it makes you wonder if anyone was awake at the wheel.
Here’s the scoop: earlier this year, the Army inked a deal with the UFL, a fledgling minor league football alternative to the NFL. This league, folks, had its inaugural season from March to June, and let’s just say, it didn’t exactly set the world on fire. But the real kicker was the inclusion of Dwayne Johnson, a global superstar and the UFL’s owner, as a sort of brand ambassador for the Army. Sounds like a win-win, right? Well, not quite.
According to internal documents reviewed by Military.com, Johnson didn’t hold up his end of the bargain. He was supposed to flood his social media with Army-related posts, leveraging his 396 million Instagram followers. The Army was banking on five posts, each valued at a whopping $1 million. But guess what? Johnson only managed to post two. Two! That’s $6 million worth of social media silence, folks.
And it gets better. Despite all the grand plans and big bucks, the Army’s partnership with the UFL didn’t just fall flat—it actually backfired. Instead of reeling in new recruits, the Army is staring at a projected loss of 38 enlistments. That’s right, folks, this flashy deal did more harm than good.
The US Army wastes $11 million on an ad campaign featuring Dwayne Johnson, which may actually have hurt recruiting efforts.
The American Army’s $11 million advertising deal with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and the United Football League has failed to yield any drive in new… pic.twitter.com/e3fSBXwHFM
— MintPress News (@MintPressNews) July 31, 2024
The bulk of this ill-fated contract involved slapping the Army logo on UFL players’ uniforms and splashing it across games. But the real star power was supposed to come from Johnson. Army planners hoped he’d elevate their brand like only The Rock can. Spoiler alert: it didn’t happen. Now, the Army is looking to recoup $6 million from this disaster, though how they came up with that figure remains as murky as the deal itself.
Let’s not forget the warning bells that were ringing loud and clear from the start. Army staff cautioned against partnering with the UFL, citing low viewership and high costs. Even the rosiest predictions didn’t see this deal paying off. Yet, it was pushed through by none other than Gen. Randy George, the Army’s chief of staff.
The Army says they made a $11M promotional deal with The Rock & the UFL which didn’t lead to a single new recruit
38 recruits actually ended up de-listing instead.
(Source: https://t.co/m8RPRsUbwk) pic.twitter.com/DGsy5Iv3fz
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) July 31, 2024
Comparisons to the National Guard’s $88 million NASCAR sponsorship, which didn’t yield a single recruit, are spot on. And speaking of spot-on, Gen Z is barely tuning into traditional TV or live sports. A 2022 poll showed that 33% of Gen Z doesn’t watch live sports, compared to 22% of Millennials. Meanwhile, TikTok, where Gen Z actually spends their time, is off-limits for Pentagon ads due to security concerns.
So here we are, folks, with an $11 million lesson in what not to do with taxpayer money. The Army’s high-stakes gamble on the UFL and The Rock turned out to be a dud. Maybe they should stop trying to be so inclusive and go back to the heart of America.
