The Army's "Be All You Can Be" Campaign

Abstract

This research examined the opinions of current soldiers regarding the most expensive campaign ever used by the U.S. Military: the Army's "Be All You Can Be" campaign. The campaign emphasizes the role of the army in providing instrumental and intrinsic rewards to soldiers. Although the campaign is aimed at potential enlistees, active duty soldiers attend to the same media channels and content and thus also receive high exposure to the advertisements. Results of focus group interviews with 87 male and 27 female soldiers indicate soldiers believe there is a wide gap between the promises of Army advertising and the actual performance of the Army in keeping its promises. This perception was expressed by many soldiers as disillusionment, frustration, and anger. The advertisements appear to damage soldier morale, commitment to the military, and reenlistment potential. For both ethical and pragmatic reasons it is suggested that future advertising should be designed with a concern for both effectiveness and honesty and that future advertisements should be concerned with increased sensitivity for the immediate and long-term effects on both the target audience of potential recruits and the unintended audience of active duty soldiers.