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The A-list celeb the US Army hired in an $11M promotion that failed to bag a single recruit
For the Pentagon, it's another shocking case of buyer's remorse.
The US Army cut a deal with the United Football League (UFL) and Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson as it struggled with an epic recruitment crisis.
But the high-profile deal fell flat on its face, according to internal documents and emails seen by Military.com.
The wrestler and actor's promotional social media posts failed to win a single recruit, and may have led to fewer newbies enlisting.
The Pentagon reportedly cut a deal for Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson to promote the US Army on his social media, but the star did not follow through
The force is reportedly trying to recoup $6 million from the ill-fated $11 million deal.
'We are in the process of working with the UFL to determine the final cost,' Army spokesperson Laura DeFrancisco told the outlet.
The UFL did not reply to The Mail's requests for comment.
The Army inked the deal earlier this year with the UFL, a new minor league alternative to the NFL that has so far struggled to gain attention.
It was focussed on Army branding at UFL games, including its logo appearing on players' uniforms.
But it also included Johnson, the superstar co-owner of the league, who was expected to elevate a force that is some 20,000 short of recruitment targets.
Johnson was supposed to serve as some kind of brand ambassador and make five posts to his 396 million Instagram followers, the files show.
Each post was calculated as being worth some $1 million in exposure.
However, the former WWE fighter only made two posts, it is claimed.
One showed him with some generals, including Gen. Randy George, the Army chief of staff, who was involved in the promotional tie-up.
Another was clips of his tour of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland.
Col. Dave Butler, a spokesperson for George, in a statement called it 'unfortunate' that Johnson 'pulled away at a time when we expected him to be present with us to create content for his social media channels.'
'But we're working with the UFL to rebalance the contract. The Rock remains a good partner to the Army,' he added.
UFL owner Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson shakes hand with military service men and women before a UFL game
Johnson reportedly only made two of the five social media posts that were discussed in the deal
The UFL's lackluster viewership and the lack of Johnson's posting led to recriminations within the Army, the files show.
By one tally, the force ended up with 38 fewer recruits than they would have gotten by focussing money and promotions elsewhere.
The emails show that some Army staffers warned that the enterprise was doomed all along.
UFL viewership was too small to warrant the multimillion dollar price tag, they had said.
One insider critic compared it to the National Guard's $88 million NASCAR sponsorship deal, which similarly failed to net a single recruit.
Another Army promotional deal with the NCAA, for example, costs about twice the UFL deal but attracts ten times as many eyeballs to the service.
Other messages show woes in dealing with the UFL's 'inexperienced' staff and how communications with them often broke down.
The files paint a picture of a service that's scrambling to find new ways to reach recruits amid tectonic shifts in the media landscape.
The military typically promotes itself on cable TV-style ads and in deals with traditional television sports broadcasts.
But the Gen Z youngsters they need in military fatigues are tuned into social media and their cellphones nowadays.
Getting Johnson on board may have been an effort to get parents of potential recruits keen on Army careers for their Gen Z offspring.
Army chiefs have spoken of challenges in bringing in recruits, leading to a shortfall of as many as 15,000 soldiers last year. Pictured: Army recruiters at a career fair in Michigan
Barely a third of military families would recommend a career in uniform nowadays, according to a survey of more than 7,400 personnel for Blue Star Families
A member of the 82nd Airborne Division feeds her five-month-old child at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where poverty, hardship, and food insecurity are rife
Megan Sweeney, a former federal government communications advisor, said the doomed deal showcased how the Army lacked know-how in social media tie-ups with big-name celebrities.
'While the Army may have thought they were getting The Rock, they were instead primarily getting a partnership with a minor football league,' Sweeney told Fortune.
'The Rock is an investor of the UFL, but it's not like he's on the sidelines of every game. As a result, the Army seems to have paid Hollywood-level sponsorship money for minor-league exposure.'
The US military faces a recruitment crisis because Gen Zers are less inclined than previous generations to pout on a uniform and risk their lives in combat.
Worse still, many of them are just not fit enough to enlist.
Meanwhile, those who are currently weaving increase warn potential reccrtuis against signing up.
Barely a third of military families would recommend a career in uniform, says the latest survey to highlight problems at the Pentagon.
Back in 2016, more than half of them spoke highly of a military career.
They said life was getting worse because military spouses could not get jobs, health services were poor, and housing was shabby.
That's according to a survey of more than 7,400 personnel for Blue Star Families, a nonprofit.
This hurts US efforts to maintain a military lead over strategic competitor China.