Military.com reports the U.S. Army is having serious “buyer’s regret” over an $11 million deal to have Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson boost sagging recruitment numbers.
In fact, not only did Johnson’s involvement not cause a single would-be GI to sign on the dotted line for Uncle Sam, the campaign “may possibly have had a negative impact on finding new enlistments,” according to internal emails reviewed by the news source.
For these reasons, the Army is reportedly trying to get $6 million back, the article says.
According to Army sources, the deal would have leveraged Johnson’s football minor league, the United Football League, to promote the military branch. However, poor viewer numbers for the league deflated that strategy — as did Johnson’s reported lack of participation using his Instagram fanbase of 396 million followers.
According to the article, Johnson promised the Army five promotional posts to his legion of followers — worth, according to the military, a million bucks each considering the size of his audience. But Johnson allegedly delivered on just two of them.
Evidently, the Army pushed back against the sports tie-in after an $88 million deal with NASCAR to promote the National Guard flopped, but the deal was reportedly “pushed through” by Gen. Randy George.
Col. Dave Butler, a rep for George, tells the website, “In terms of The Rock, it’s unfortunate he was pulled away at a time when we expected him to … create content for his social media channel.”
While they try to “rebalance the contract,” Butler said, “The Rock remains a good partner to the Army.”
A rep for the superstar didn’t return ABC Audio’s request for comment.
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