Wild Card: Public Relations Perspective - USMC

Jarheads. Devil Dogs. The Few, The Proud, The Marines. There are many stigmas that surround the United States Marine Corps. These stigmas have both promoted the Corps and caused concern for civilians on the outside looking in. I am proud of my branch of service, yet there are things that need to change. Most importantly is the Marine Corps’ way of promoting itself.

I was once the outsider looking in. I was a young man intent on the ideals of brotherhood and service. As many young men are, I was not afraid of anything – I felt as though I could take on the world. The Marine Corps promoted that message, with videos of Marines storming desert areas and outfitted in flak jackets and kevlar. These commercials strongly symbolize the post 9/11 era of the Corps, with Operation Iraqi Freedom and the following battles against terrorist organizations. These commercials appealed to those of us who remembered the attack on the twin towers and we found solace in these commercials appealing to the idea of fighting against terrorist organizations.

Yet after more than a decade spent in the Middle East with our main forces now pulled out of the area, the Marine Corps has not taken a different approach to their commercials. It is still Marines piling out of Ospreys and storming desert locations. Regardless of how horrible these terrorist organizations are, Americans are fed up with US involvement in the Middle East. We are in the stage of peacetime Marine Corps and it is time that our commercials reflect this nature. The new commercials should be focused on the adventurous side of service. It should show Marine embassy guards in European countries, Marines on MEUs out in the ocean, and even Marines on top of a mountain in Japan – drinking water and taking in the view after a hike. The last part of the commercial should state, “and we will always remain ready to defend” or any similar idea that correlates with the objective of the Marine Corps, which is winning wars.

Moving away from the regular duties of Marines in commercials, the Corps has an amazing program that should be promoted much more through social media and commercial advertisement: Toys For Tots. The most popular commercial showing Toys For Tots comes from nearly 30 years ago. It was an amazing commercial and Toys For Tots is a wonderful service, yet the Corps only appears on local news stations across the nation now and has not marketed its community service through another national commercial. It would be in their best interest to further advance the community service perspective of Toys For Tots to Americans through national TV and social media outreach. Major television events would make for a great market for a Toys For Tots commercial. While the Superbowl comes after Christmas, the Thanksgiving football games would be an amazing time slot for commercials, especially after CBS reported that the Bills-Cowboys Thanksgiving game saw 32.53 million viewers, doubling the average NFL game viewership in 2018.

Aside from civilian outreach, the Corps must make more efforts on boosting morale and developing better methods of outreach to their Marines. On the Marines YouTube channel, the second-highest viewed video of 2019 is “A Message from the Commandant of the Marine Corps”, where (then) Commandant Neller speaks about the issues of suicide in the Marine Corps. It is a sobering video and disheartening to know that many of our brothers and sisters have passed away because of this. Commandant Neller spoke like a friend whose heart was broken. It was a much-needed video, yet I wish it wasn’t. The Marine Corps needs image counseling. They need to listen to their Marines and must ensure that their Marines can speak about issues without any fear. 

The Corps needs to analyze these issues and look for ways to resolve the problems. Fixing issues with living conditions, especially for military families living on Marine Corps installations, would be an amazing start. If a college as small as Southern Arkansas University can continue to build decent dorms for college students to live in, Marines shouldn’t have to feel like squatters in a room they must violently work to keep clean on “field day”. Instead of buying from the cheapest bidder, purchase what is best for your Marines.

There will be many people who will insist that these issues can’t be resolved because of the Corp’s low budget – brought up in conversation amongst Marines any time an issue is discussed. If that was really the case, the Marine Corps may need to consider downsizing in personal and offering more benefits for their troops. Whatever the Corps does to benefit the livelihood of Marines, it must be reflected positively through their media campaigns. The Marine Corps has gotten away with the cheap equipment and poor housing for a long time because you simply can’t leave the service like any other job – you must complete your contract. It is time for the Corps to do better for its Marines, as their Marines do their best for the country.