United States Marine Corps Campaign Advertisement

The campaign advertisement ran by the United States Marine Corps uses versatile imagery and a connotative language approach to strategically attract minority women. The print ad shows a female Marine in a defensive martial arts pose on looked by a crowd of men in what seems to be a combat training session implying she is the leader. The tag line: “There are no female Marines. Only Marines” suggests that women who join the Marines will have equal standing with men in their organization.

The ad itself appears to be in a military instructional setting. The viewer’s eye is immediately drawn to the central focus of the document; a strong, physically fit African American woman in a combat stance, facilitating the techniques of martial arts. The entire ad is almost devoid of color, using instead, shading and highlighting strategies to draw the eye through the ad in the manner intended. Most of the ad is darkly shaded and blurred, lighter shades are used in the backdrop directly behind the woman highlighting her as the standout and the most important feature of the advertisement. Looking further, the viewer sees a group of Marines surrounding and beneath the woman focusing upward, as if she is on a stage giving a demonstration. Whereas the female is clearly outlined and visible, the surrounding men are darkened, almost blurry. She is obviously the boss here.

In addition to the layout used, the wording as well as the format used is also strategically developed to draw in and capture the intended audience’s attention. Laid out on the bottom left hand corner is the attention-grabber; “Wanted: Leadership that inspires Marines under your command and Americans everywhere”. Every portion of this ad, from the use of dark space and highlig...

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...efense Military Equal Opportunity Program, 1997).

In conclusion, the advertisement promotes the idea that not only a minority person but also a minority woman can be leaders in the Marine Corps. There is also a suggestion that a highly motivated young woman can aspire to be great leaders and mentors in an organization consisting primarily of men.

References

The Department of Defense Military Equal Opportunity Program, 32 C.F.R. § 51.3 (1997), http://frwebgate2.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/TEXTgate.cgi?WAISdocID=5lBbqF/2/1/0&WAISaction=retrieve.

Photo: J.W.T. and the Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising and Marketing History at Duke University. (n.d.). Marine ads seek ‘a few good women’. In Wanted [Photo Advertisement]. Retrieved June 16, 2010, from The New York Times website: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/04/04/business/20080404_RECRUIT_Slideshow_10.html