Military.com reports that the Army ate The Rock’s food, which cost them an estimated $11 million. The marketing agreement they signed with Dwayne Johnson (The Rock) and the United Football League likely did not result in a single recruit.
The Army estimated that this deal could have cost the military up to 83 recruits.
The Army and Johnson’s upstart football league UFL struck a massive marketing deal earlier this year. Military.com’s Steve Beynon, however, reported that the Army valued Johnson more than the UFL and hoped Johnson’s celebrity endorsement would jumpstart military recruiting, which had dropped to historic low numbers. The Army, Navy, and Air Force failed to meet their recruitment targets by 41,000 enlistments last year.
Beynon described the fallout as “catastrophic.”
Documents internal to the Army revealed that each Instagram post by Johnson was valued at $1 million. Johnson has 396 million followers worldwide. Johnson only posted two posts, despite the Army expecting five.
Johnson’s last Army-related post was made in April. Johnson posted a picture of him posing alongside generals, including Gen. Randy George who “pushed directly” through the $11m marketing deal. One of his posts was Johnson posing with generals (including Gen. Randy George, who “pushed through directly” the $11 million marketing deal).
The Army hopes to recover $6 million through the deal. Beynon says it’s unclear how the Army came up with this figure.
Beynon received no response from the United Football League or Johnson’s Publicist to his request for comment.
In recent years, the military has been struggling to maximize its marketing budget. In 2014, The USA Today reported that the National Guard’s $88 million NASCAR sponsoring was even worse: it was eight times as expensive and failed to recruit a single soldier.
Many people believe that the U.S. Armed Force’s marketing strategy, which traditionally relies on cable TV and sports broadcasts to reach young Americans, may not be suitable for reaching enlistment-age Americans. TikTok is the only social media platform where the military advertises. The Pentagon has banned any advertising due to TikTok’s parent company being controlled by the Chinese government. In 2024, the Army’s budget for marketing and advertising was close to $1 billion. In March of last year, the military requested an increase of 10 percent in their spending. This amounts to approximately $1.1 billion. The military asked for $675 million for incentives and other benefits to boost its anemic recruitment.
The Army appears to be willing to make amends with Johnson. Col. David Butler, an Army spokesperson, told Beynon “…we are working with the UFL on rebalancing the contract. The Rock is a good partner for the Army.”
Johnson’s long-standing connections with the Pentagon and military officials have allowed him to receive breaking news. He was the first to break the news of Osama Bin Laden’s death to the world’s media in 2011. Johnson replied, “I have friends both in high and low places.” When asked how he found out about bin Laden’s demise. “…The people who were present were happy to inform me..”
