According to records obtained by Military.com, a recent $11 million advertising arrangement between the U.S. Army and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, along with his United Football League (UFL), appears to have backfired, potentially harming recruiting efforts.
A $1 million contract was struck earlier this year, and part of it required Johnson to post five Army advertising on his Instagram account. But Johnson only uploaded two of the scheduled advertisements. In addition, Johnson’s minor league football league, the UFL, was required to run military advertisements on player uniforms and during games.

According to reports, this transaction had such a catastrophic impact that the Army thinks it may have lost 38 potential enlistees instead of recruiting thousands of new members. The Army is currently working to recoup its expenditure as a result.
“It’s unfortunate that The Rock was pulled away at a time when we expected him to be present with us to create content for his social media channels,” Colonel Dave Butler said in response to the circumstances. Butler went on, “The Rock remains a good partner to the Army” in spite of this.
The low attendance at UFL games added fuel to the fire about the deal’s efficacy as an advertisement. The documents that were discovered indicate that the Army hopes to recover $5 million from the arrangement with Johnson and $6 million from the UFL pact.

 

All military branches are facing difficulties in recruiting new members, with the Army projected to fall short of its recruitment goal by 10,000 personnel in 2023, as reported by Military.com. This advertising fiasco coincides with these problems.