Earlier this year, a Military.com story reports that the United States Army secured an endorsement deal from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and the United Football League of which he is a co-owner. The deal was valued at a total of $11 million, and new documents reveal that the campaign was a massive failure, with Army enlistments actually coming up in the red, projected to go down by 38 enlistments when the plan was for the publicity to generate thousands of new potential recruits. And now, the Army wants to get some of its money back.
Johnson got paid $1 million a pop to make five posts on his Instagram account promoting Army enlistment. He has reportedly only made two of those posts. He also agreed to recruitment ads being shown during UFL games and on player uniforms, the UFL deal being worth another $6 million.
According to the leaked documents, the Army wants to get back at least some of its $11 million from Johnson over the campaign’s failure, but Army spokesperson Laura DeFrancisco told Military.com that the documents are “out of context.” Another Army spokesperson, Col. Dave Butler, told Military.com that the Army’s relationship with Johnson was still strong:
“In terms of The Rock, it’s unfortunate he was 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.”
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Johnson hasn’t made an Army-sponsored Instagram post since back in April, and it’s not clear whether the social media partnership will continue in the future. Low viewership and live attendance figures for UFL games reportedly also contributed to the campaign’s failure.
As tempting as it might be to blame the Army’s poor recruitment figures on The Rock, they’re actually just part of a much larger trend, with military recruitment down nationwide. The debacle may remind some of the National Guard’s recent $88 million NASCAR partnership, which may have failed to produce a single new recruit, according to a USA Today report. And the Army had another stretch of bad luck with celebrity endorsements last year when its splashy campaign fronted by Jonathan Majors had to be pulled off the airwaves following his arrest for assault.