At the conclusion of “A Few Good African American Men and Women” I posed the following question: Will our efforts be enough to communicate to African Americans that they can be successful in the Marine Corps? So what were these efforts?
The Marine Corps has released a commercial that will be shown fifty percent of the time that the Marine Corps runs a 30 second commercial during the month of February. This commercial, which is known as “The Line,” focuses on the idea that African Americans of today stand shoulder to shoulder with notable African American Marines of the past, forming an unbroken line of honorable men and women committed to defending their country without hesitation. The commercial directs viewers to a website, http://www.ourhistory.marines.com/ that was set up especially for Black History Month.
So is this advertising on target to reach African American men and women? The website ourhistory.marines.com is a disappointment, as it features no actual information about African American history in the Marine Corps; it is just a place to reach three websites that existed before Black History Month and are not specifically targeted to the occasion: www.marines.com, www.officer.marines.com, and www.parents.marines.com.
But the Marine Corps has one very successful Black History Month initiative; one that costs us absolutely nothing and could potentially reach a large portion of our target market: Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/#!/marinecorps?ref=ts. According to Marketwatch, 73 percent of wired teenagers use social networking sites like Facebook, so we know that Facebook reaches future Marines.
Insidefacebook.com reports that the Marine Corps is one of the organizations that is best using Facebook to communicate about our contributions to Black History. http://www.insidefacebook.com/2010/02/08/black-history-month-makes-a-minor-appearance-on-facebook/
So what do you think about the Corps' Black History Month efforts?
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