Executive

Waste of the Day: Dwayne Johnson’s $11 Million Army Marketing Deal Hit Rock Bottom

The U.S. Army paid Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson $11 million without realizing a single new enlistment and arguably lost enlistments.

Published

3 months ago

August 14, 2024

Adam Andrzejewski

Topline: The Rock has layeth the smackdown on the U.S. Army’s budget.

The Army actually lost enlistments by paying The Rock

The Pentagon’s $11 million marketing deal with pro wrestler and actor Dwayne Johnson likely didn’t cause a single person to enlist in the Army, according to internal documents obtained by Military.com.

The Army estimates that it actually lost 38 enlistments by not using its time and money on other recruiting tactics.

Key facts: The deal included $5 million for Johnson to make five social media posts promoting the military to his 396 million Instagram followers, but Johnson only posted twice.

The Army logo was also displayed on players’ jerseys during the debut season of the United Football League earlier this year — the upstart minor league alternative to the NFL. But the league, which Johnson co-owns, had viewership that “was too low, and even the most optimistic estimation showed the partnership would not yield many recruits,” according to Military.com.

Marketing officials warned of the financial risk, but Army Chief of Staff Randy George pushed for the deal directly, according to emails.

Another internal document claims the Army picked up a “significant amount of additional work” because of the UFL’s “lack of experience” with marketing deals.

The Army is asking Johnson to return $6 million, though Military.com says it’s unclear how that number was determined.

Other services waste money, too

Background: Waste is not uncommon at the Pentagon’s lethargic bureaucracy.

Only 21% of the Department of Defense’s 2025 budget request will go to “Active Forces.” Far more will go toward “operations & maintenance” such as marketing.

Other questionable marketing campaigns have included the $4.3 million the Navy spent last year on advertising through online video games, including paying officers to play Fortnite.

Search all federal, state and local government salaries and vendor spending with the AI search bot, Benjamin, at OpenTheBooks.com.

Critical quote: “While the Army may have thought they were getting The Rock, they were instead primarily getting a partnership with a minor football league,” former Pentagon communications advisor Megan Sweeney told Fortune. “The Rock is an investor of the UFL, but it’s not like he’s on the sidelines of every game. As a result, the Army seems to have paid Hollywood-level sponsorship money for minor-league exposure.”

Summary: If Johnson’s long-rumored presidential bid ever becomes a reality, he’ll need to learn more about helping the government get value out of its contracts.

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by CEO & founder, Adam Andrzejewski, with Jeremy Portnoy. Learn more at OpenTheBooks.com.

This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire.

Adam Andrzejewski

CEO at OpenTheBooks.com | Website | + posts

Adam Andrzejewski (say: Angie-eff-ski) was the CEO/founder of OpenTheBooks.com. Before dedicating his life to public service, Adam co-founded HomePages Directories, a $20 million publishing company (1997-2007). His works have been featured on the BBC, Good Morning America, ABC World News Tonight, C-SPAN, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, FOX News, CNN, National Public Radio (NPR), Forbes, Newsweek, and many other national media.

Today, OpenTheBooks.com is the largest private repository of U.S. public-sector spending. Mission: post "every dime, online, in real time." In 2022, OpenTheBooks.com captured nearly all public expenditures in the country, including nearly all disclosed federal government spending; 50 of 50 state checkbooks; and 25 million public employee salary and pension records from 50,000 public bodies across America.

The group's aggressive transparency and forensic auditing of government spending has led to the assembly of grand juries, indictments, and successful prosecutions; congressional briefings, hearings, and subpoenas; Government Accountability Office (GAO) audits; Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports; federal legislation; and much more.

Our Honorary Chairman - In Memoriam is U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, MD.

Andrzejewski's federal oversight work was included in the President's Budget To Congress FY2021. The budget cited his organization by name, bullet-pointed their findings, and footnoted/hyperlinked to their report.

Posted on YouTube, Andrzejewski's presentation, The Depth of the Swamp, at the Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar 2020 in Naples, Florida received 3.8 million views.

Andrzejewski has spoken at the Columbia School of Journalism, Harvard Law School and the law schools at Georgetown and George Washington regarding big data journalism. As a senior policy contributor at Forbes, Adam had nearly 20 million pageviews on 206 published investigations. In 2022, investigative fact-finding on Dr. Fauci's finances led to his cancellation at Forbes.

In 2022, Andrzejewski did 473 live television and radio interviews across broadcast, major cable platforms, and radio shows. Andrzejewski is the author of The Waste of the Day column at Real Clear Policy. The column is syndicated by Sinclair Broadcast Group, owners of nearly 200 ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX affiliates across USA.

Andrzejewski passed away in his sleep at his home in in Hinsdale, Illinois, on August 18, 2024. He is survived by his wife Kerry and three daughters. He also served as a lector at St. Isaac Jogues Catholic Church and finished the Chicago Marathon eight times (PR 3:58.49 in 2022).

Waste of the Day articles published after August 18, 2024 are considered posthumous publications.