In modern society, especially amongst men, there is a great desire to be strong. Men go to the gym to get fit, they workout to improve performance in sports, and they train to work harder at manual labor jobs. But seemingly more important, there is a sense that people must have a certain level of emotional strength to get through tough times on the rollercoaster of life. The first civic artifact I chose shows how the US Army utilizes the idea that strength comes in many forms to make a call to the civic. However, this is not the only way that the US military and government has made an attempt to make a call to its citizens. During times of war, such as WWI and WWII, the government used very different means of trying to get its people to volunteer their lives for the betterment and protection of the country. Here we will see how the political conditions and current state of war have an effect on the methods of recruitment to the United States Military.
The United States Army Recruitment Ad from 2009 uses the differences between being strong in a traditional sense and being “Army Strong” to encourage men in particular to partake in their civic duty and join the military.
The ad is centered on the term “strong”. The majority of the ad is spent on making comparisons between different forms of strength. It uses the pattern of stating a form of traditional strength, which I’ll call “normal strengths”, and then saying a form of strength that fits into the Armies ideologies. For example, being Army Strong is not the strength to obey, but the strength to command. These comparisons continue throughout that ad, accompanied by a scene that depicts an example of what that particular strength may look like. After viewing the ad multiple times, a pattern forms for both “normal strengths” and “Army strong strengths”. The normal strengths are much more physical and simple. These include the strengths “in numbers”, “to lift”, “to get yourself over”, and “to obey”. We can visually see these types of strength. We can see someone lifting a heavy object or working in a large group. These are also something that anyone can obtain. Becoming physically strong and obeying commands is easy. The Army wants to make their soldiers something more. This is where the “Army Strengths” come in. These include “strength in brothers”, “strength to raise”, “strength to command”, “strength to get over yourself”, and “emotional strength”. These types of strength are much more ideological than the normal strengths. For example, brotherhood is a bond that goes beyond just being on the same side. Teammates work and sweat together while brothers in war bleed and die for one another.
These normal strengths and Army strength are meant to be seen as both opposites and complements at the same time. The scenes that match us with the normal, physical strengths are all still part of the daily duties of the Army. The soldiers need to be strong and in shape to handle basic training and being in the field. The Army needs numbers to complete their larger missions and be an opposing force. While the Army recognizes the necessity of these physical strengths, the Army strengths is what set them apart from other countries militaries. The ad makes physical strength less vital than the ideological and emotional strengths. They are inferior and insufficient in making an individual Army Strong.
The ad emphasizes that the Army is the best in the world because they have soldiers that are Army Strong. However, it is actually the Army that provides these Army strengths. They are offering a service to train men to become the best they can be. While the Army’s ultimate goal is to get men and women to enlist and serve their civic duty, they are offering a secondary service that benefits the individual. They are providing an opportunity for self-fulfillment. This idea of self-fulfillment can be satisfied in multiple ways by the Army as well.
One way that the Army allows for men and women to have complete lives is a career in the military. The Army, and any military branch, is a system set up that allows people to “climb to corporate ladder” in a sense, but instead of moving up in corporate positions they move up in rank and gain different, more leadership oriented responsibilities. The ad eludes to this in saying Army Strong is more than “the strength to obey, but the strength to command”. A private that has just entered the Army is not going to be commanding anyone, but if they stick with it and move up in rank they will one day be in a position to make critical decisions and lead others.
Another way of becoming self-fulfilled is by self-improvement. Many people in today’s society, men especially, are always looking for way to become better versions of themselves, and in many cases this involves becoming stronger. Even though the ad revolves around the idea that physical strength is not critical and nearly as important as emotional and leadership strengths, these Army strengths, it is very apparent that the Army still trains its soldiers to be physically fit. Fitness is very desirable amongst many people. Also, these Army strength are not innate to people. People are born emotionally strong with no fears and the knowledge and power to command others. The Army teaches its soldiers to have these characteristics and become strong in less superficial ways than purely physical strength.
Many Americans, as they get older, develop a guilt they feel they must pay towards their country. America is able to offer citizens so much compared to other countries, such as healthcare, unemployment compensation, and many unalienable rights, that they feel guilty that they offer nothing back. One major way that people choose to relieve this guilt is by joining the military and directly giving back to America and its citizens.
All of these self-fulfillment opportunities are available because we are in peace-time. The ad was produced and released in 2009. While we had men deployed for the War in Iraq, this was not a total war where all military and government operations were focused on the war effort; it was still a time of general peace. The ad uses this peace time to offer its services to citizens. It takes full advantage of kairos to both attempt to recruit people as well as present what the Army can offer to people.
The Army’s ability to offer training and job services to citizens was not always the case however. During war times, more specifically during WWI and WWII, the roles were switched. The Army needed what the citizens could provide; their lives and man power. These were times of total war so the propaganda and ads used were very different than those used today. One ad that demonstrates the US Army’s need for citizens to enlist is the “I want you” ad used during WWI and WWII. The ad depicts Uncle Sam, dressed in very patriotic clothing, pointing at the reader and saying “I WANT YOU FOR U.S. ARMY”.
The most apparent symbol is that of Uncle Sam himself. He has, and will forever be used as a symbol of America. His top hat covered in stars and red, white, and blue clothing makes him the perfectly connect to the flag. His old age and face remind us our founding father, always depicted as old men with big white hair. Saying that Uncle Sam wants you actually means that America wants you. But thinking more deeply about Uncle Sam as a person reveals how desperate America was for military recruits. Uncle Sam is very old, and it can be inferred that he needs help. Many time we stereotype old family members as ones that need help doing daily activities from younger members of the family. In the ad, it uses this idea that old Uncle Sam, America, needs help from his sons, the citizens and soldiers during the war. It takes advantage of guilt to persuade people into joining. This is also captured by the fact that “YOU” is a different color from the rest of the words. The ads want to send the message that you, the individual, are of vital importance to the war effort. The sacrifice that a citizen makes will not go unappreciated because they are in such dire need of soldiers and volunteers.
During WWI and WWII, every citizen knew what was going on. The war influenced every part of people lives and there were so many opportunities to join the military that people didn’t need to search. The ad uses kairos and the idea that so many citizens are informed about the war and recruiting that it can simply say “nearest recruiting station”. The ad doesn’t need to specify exactly where to go to enlist, it is able to assume that every already knows.
These two ads contrast the peoples shifted attitudes over the years from self-sacrifice to self-improvement. Whether or not you consider self-improvement to just be indulgent and selfish, there is no argument that it has increased since the times of the World Wars. Modern Americans are much more fixated on what the world has to offer them and what they can get out of different organizations and groups such as the Army. I can’t entirely say that this is a bad thing because it promotes competition and growth in companies, communities, and individuals that result in the improvement of all different aspects of society. It is just different than the views of the citizens during WWI and WWII. The Army used these appeals to self-improvement in their 2009 recruitment ad by offering citizens the opportunities of self-fulfillment to further their own goals of getting new recruits. However, the Uncle Sam ad took advantage of Americans desire to help the country during its circulation. During the World Wars, people did everything they could to help its military. Children gathered scrap metal and avoided new purchases to converse raw material. Adult made small sacrifices such as carpooling and only eating certain foods a certain number of times a week. Joining the military was just another one of those sacrifices, just one that is more impactful on a person’s life. Uncle Sam was a way of sparking that interest to make the jump from small sacrifices to large ones.
The Army Recruitment Ad from 2009 and the “I want you” ad used during WWI and WWII both have the ultimate goal of getting people to join the Army. However, the method they use are and the reasons why are very different. The more modern ad is looking to attract people by offering experience and training to make them better individuals or to achieve self-fulfillment. Here the Army has something to offer the people, but during WWI and WWII, the Army needed the man power provided by the citizens. The ad used during that time took advantage of guilt and a need for help, as well as the knowledge of its citizens to get its message across in such short phrases.