Return of an old ‘friend’. Be All You Can Be

New recruit cadets stand in line to be processed.

The Army is going to resurrect its most effective recruiting slogan. “Be All You Can Be”.  About the only campaign more effective for recruiting was WWII: the original campaign slogan is considered one of the most effective of the 20th century, far more enticing than “Be an Army of Uno” or “Join the woke vaxxed class!” or whatever they are using now to fall short of current recruiting goals by what, 95%?

Army’s “Be all you can be” ads ran for over two decades starting in the 1980s, according to the Army Historical Foundation. The public first saw the campaign during the 1981 New Year’s college football bowl games.

The magazine Advertising Age ranked the “Be all you can be” campaign as the 18th best in a list of the top-100 marketing campaigns in the 20th century, the foundation added.

The blast from the past follows the U.S. Military Academy at West Point revealing it will use World War II-era themed uniforms in its upcoming annual football game against rival Navy.

Army Times

Think I was immune to this particular slogan, it started running during the ’81 bowl games and (Ronnie having won instead of Jimmeh) I had already re-enlisted for what seemed the rest of my life. I do recall during “alerts” at 2AM in Germany hearing someone say “Be all I can be? Just this once, I want to be a little less”. Ah, the Tuesday mornings after three-day weekends – I am sure more than one of you remembers them.

And if anyone wonders what the Navy is using to countering Army’s uniform choice: a space/NASA theme.

Category: Army