U.S. MILITARY COMMERCIALS: MONEY WELL SPENT? THESIS Presented to the Graduate Council of Texas State University-San Marcos in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts by Abigail R. Merrill, B.A. San Marcos, Texas August 2012 U.S. MILITARY COMMERCIALS: MONEY WELL SPENT? Committee Members Approved: Dr. Hyun Yun, Chair ______________________________ Dr. Don Inbody Member _______________________________ Dr. Theodore Hindson Member Approved: _______________________________ J. Michael Willoughby Dean of the Graduate College COPYRIGHT by Abigail R. Merrill 2012 FAIR USE AND AUTHOR’S PERMISSION STATEMENT Fair Use This work is protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States (Public Law 94- 533, section 107). Consistent with fair use as defined in the Copyright Laws, brief quotations for this material are allowed with proper acknowledgement. Use of this material for financial gain without the author’s express permission is not allowed. Duplicate Permission As the copyright holder of this work, I, Abigail R. Merrill, refuse permission to copy in excess of the “Fair Use” exemption without my written permission. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Dr. Dennis Dunn for believing in me and giving me a chance in his International Studies Department. I would like to thank Dr. Hyun Yun for her inspirational teaching methods, unending patience, and skillful guidance—I cannot imagine having written this paper without her support. I emphatically thank my editor, Ms. Michelle Elliott, whose boundless knowledge about the English language and scholastic literature proved invaluable. I also thank my parents Jimbob and Lisa Spencer for their assistance, support, and encouragement throughout my career as a master’s student at Texas State University-San Marcos. Lastly, I want to thank the Service members and their families, who have sacrificed so much for their country. This manuscript was submitted on April 23rd, 2012. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................v LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. ix LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................x ABSTRACT .........................................................................................................................x I. INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................................1 Background .............................................................................................2 Summary of Design ................................................................................5 Purpose of Research and Research Questions ........................................5 II. LITERATURE REVIEW ...............................................................................10 Definition of Military Ads ....................................................................10 Purpose of Military Ads ........................................................................10 Example of a Current Military Commercial -- Army Strong: The Way They See You ..............................12 Past Research of the Effects of Military Advertising............................14 The Unique Market of Military Recruiting ...........................................18 Example of a Current U.S. Military Commercial -- U.S. Marine Corp: For Us All ............................................20 Example of a Current U.S. Military Commercial -- Air Force: Above All .........................................................21 Example of a Current U.S. Military Commercial -- Army: The Creeds ..............................................................23 Generic Advertising, Branch/Brand Specific Adverting or a Perfect Combination of the Two?......................................................................24 vi Are Military Ads Conveying Unintended Messages? ...........................26 Should Government’s Use of Advertising Be Constrained? ................27 Example of a Current U.S. Military Commercial -- Navy: A Global Force for Good ............................................................28 Example of a Current U.S. Military Commercial – U. S. Marine Corp: LEAP ...............................................................31 Example of a Current U.S. Military Commercial – Navy: Accelerate Your Life ..............................................................32 III. Applying Media Framing and Political Campaign Ad Theories to Military Ads .......................................................................................................................33 Similarities of Political Advertising and Military Advertising .............33 Past Research of Effects of Televised Political Advertising .................33 Effects of Increased Exposure to Political Advertising ........................35 Past Research on Effects of Advertising on Youth Political Efficacy and Cynicism Levels .............................................................................38 U.S. Military Commercials: A Hybrid of Image and Issue Ads ..........40 Example of a Current U.S. Military Commercial – Army: Army of One ...........................................................................42 Example of a Current U.S. Military Commercial – Army: Army Strong ...........................................................................45 IV. HYPOTHESES .............................................................................................47 V. METHODOLOGY .........................................................................................48 Research Design ....................................................................................48 Experiment Stimuli ...............................................................................48 Measures ...............................................................................................50 Sample ...................................................................................................53 VI. RESULTS ....................................................................................................58 VII. DISCUSSION ..............................................................................................64 vii Proposal for Future Research ................................................................67 APPENDICES .....................................................................................................69 Appendix A: Questionnaire Version for Group 1 ................................69 Appendix B: Questionnaire Version for Group 2 and Group 3 ...........74 Appendix C: Video Style Code Sheet: Adapted Version for Military Enlistment Commercials and Reponses ................................................82 REFERENCES ....................................................................................................86 viii LIST OF TABLES Table Page Table 1: Video style Army of One commercial .................................................................43 Table 2: Video style: Army Strong commercial ................................................................46 Table 3: Research design ..................................................................................................48 Table 4: Stimuli list for Group 2 .......................................................................................49 Table 5: Stimuli list for Group 3 .......................................................................................50 Table 6: Sample information ............................................................................................53 Table 7: Regression analysis of demographic factors’ influence on an individual’s war attitudes ............................................................................................................................. 58 Table 8: ANOVA: War Attitude ....................................................................................... 60 Table 9: Percentage distribution of propensity levels ......................................................61 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page Figure 1: Competitive Frame 1 .........................................................................................11 Figure 2: Competitive Frame 2 .........................................................................................12 Figure 3: Sales equation ....................................................................................................18 Figure 4: Army example ...................................................................................................19 Figure 5: Attitude accessibility spectrum .........................................................................37 Figure 6: Sample political group distribution ...................................................................55 Figure 7: Sample efficacy distribution ..............................................................................56 Figure 8: Sample cynicism distribution ............................................................................57 x