Posted by jwithington in Navy, Soft PowerYou can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Up late working on homework, but came across the Navy’s new slogan: “America’s Navy- A Global Force for Good.” Seems a little too international to me; good is so bland.
What do you think? Also, if you are in the Navy or former Navy post which slogan you joined under if you remember.
Accelerate your life!
Posted by jwithington in Navy, Soft PowerYou can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
21 Responses to “A Global Force for Good?”
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“It’s not just a job, but an adventure.”
I like the new slogan. It speaks well enough to the current sailors and airmen (the internal audience). It is a reasonably good recruiting tool, but most importantly it will find traction with the taxpayers who are underwriting our efforts in shipbuilding (as well as my paycheck).
I think the gist of the message capitalizes on the multi-lateral, globally focused mood of the country right now, and ongoing support for the Navy mission is an important piece of the public dialog.
Just my $0.02
V/R,
October 14th, 2009 at 6:17 am“A Global Force for Good”?
So’s the Lions’ Club.
Sometimes the Navy will be required to do some bad. Sink ships. Kill people. You know, war.
Not a surprise, but it IS indicative of where the mindset of the leadership is. And that doesn’t bode well for keeping a warfighting force ready and willing…. IMHO.
October 14th, 2009 at 6:43 amWe’ve batted it around a few times over at my HomeBlog.
I over-thought it originally and believed is was OK, but after being schooled by a couple of 1st Classes – I have come to the conclusion that if it is something you want to use to recruit, maybe not that great.
If your target audience is about the same as those adds by ADM during the Sunday news shows – then maybe OK. Then again – is that what our advertising budget is best spent on?
October 14th, 2009 at 6:55 am“Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick,”
T. Roosevelt
“A global force for good,” is the speaking part. “Oh crap, the US Navy is here,” accompanied by the appropriate application of a CSG, an MM1, an IT1, a Salamander, and an URR is the big stick part.
I see no cognitive dissonance here.
V/R,
October 14th, 2009 at 7:13 amBen,
Both the soft speaking and the big stick should be readily apparent. “A Global Force for Good” connotes something FAR different from a warfighting force. In fact, to many, it connotes just the opposite.
October 14th, 2009 at 7:31 amGLOBFORGOOD sounds more like a Peace Corps slogan.
October 14th, 2009 at 7:32 amDoes the Chief of Naval Operations become COMGLOBFORGOOD? That might temper his enthusiasm.
October 14th, 2009 at 7:50 am“Dawn Launch, Sea of Japan”. F-4s on the bow cat. Hooked me good.
October 14th, 2009 at 8:06 amWhat happened to, Accelerate Your Life?
Why was it necessary to change our slogan? This new one is completely stupid. Are we serving in the boy scouts or in the US Navy? How much money did we waste on this thing? We don’t have enough money to get ready for INSERV, yet we seem to have enough for this shameful farce. What’s wrong with this picture??
October 14th, 2009 at 8:13 am“Shield of the Republic”, and “Don’t tread on me”.
Friend or foe, they are what you need to know.
October 14th, 2009 at 9:02 amHere is an NMCI compliant video link.
http://www.vidoemo.com/yvideo.php?america-s-navy-a-global-force-for-good=&i=aDN3dFVDcWuRpUFdtZUk#
URR says:
“Both the soft speaking and the big stick should be readily apparent. “A Global Force for Good” connotes something FAR different from a warfighting force. In fact, to many, it connotes just the opposite.”
Watch the video. The big stick is readily apparent IMHO. This is a multimedia age, and we should make some attempt to experience it in the proper context.
I suppose that some would also argue that the “preventing wars is just as important as winning them” part of the maritime strategy is too soft to be valuable as well. To each his own I suppose.
V/R,
October 14th, 2009 at 9:25 amI thought it was the best Navy commercial in a while, until they got to that slogan at the end. The mixing in of the Navy’s history was awesome. In the world we now live in, I think we will be more successful recruiting people who are open minded, mission dedicated, and trained to fight when necessary, than a bunch of “kill, kill, rah rah” types. I personally saw many occasions in Iraq where the mission was negatively affected by a preference for kinetic operations. I understand the Navy is trying to attract recruits who may be more motivated by community service than shoot/kill, but “Global force for good” seems trendy and “feel good” vs meaningful. There has to be a better phrase or slogan to get the same point across.
October 14th, 2009 at 9:32 am“I suppose that some would also argue that the “preventing wars is just as important as winning them” part of the maritime strategy is too soft to be valuable as well. To each his own I suppose.”
Problem is, that “some” will include enemies and adversaries who may also read the message as softsoap.
Theater engagement is not new. But neither is it a primary mission of US armed forces. It is primarily in the realm of civilian governmental authority, and diplomats from State. Which is as it should be. US forces do engage in this, have for decades, but are primarily there should those efforts, and others, fail.
Preventing war so often means postponing it, and the latter too often gives the enemy an advantage vis a vis US forces that he might not otherwise have had. The West has made grievous errors because they couldn’t tell the difference. (http://blog.usni.org/?p=4224) The bill for such error is paid in lives. Or loss of security. Or both.
October 14th, 2009 at 9:36 am“Global Force for Good” sounds like something the United Nations would use. I don’t like it for our Navy. As UltimateRatioReg says above, sometimes the Navy will have to do bad things, like sink other ships. But really, does anybody join the Navy because of the slogan? I didn’t join because “It’s Not Just a Job, It’s an Adventure” hooked me. I joined because I loved the military from the first time I saw an F4 Phantom II and my gramps was a GM2 in WWII and survived sinkings of the USS BUCHANON and another DD…and he had great stories…and I liked the idea of watching the sun go down with ocean all around me.
October 14th, 2009 at 2:52 pmIt’s a lame slogan, but it won’t hurt recruiting.
“We believe preventing wars is as important as winning them.” Prevention = deterrence which can be via soft or hard power, depending on the scenario and context.
October 14th, 2009 at 3:58 pmAm somewhat ambivalent about the ad itself – probably because I viewed it in the ADM-type context and during a show that catered to the ADM ad demographic. During a football game or NA$CAR race, then I’d look for something a bit different to appeal to the 18-24 demographic. But then, the Navy already got its 26+ years of horseflesh out of me already
- SJS
-Let the Journey Begin
Peace Corps is the first thing I thought about when I heard it. Who are we trying to convince that the Navy is a global force for good? Our people, potential recruits, the public, or the global audience?
Like Warrant Diver said, it won’t hurt recruiting (probably), but I don’t think it will necessarily help either.
October 14th, 2009 at 6:43 pmIt seems like the average age is 18 to 24 nowadays. Most recruits are not going to think anything of how ridiculous our latest slogan seems to be. When I was 17 in October 2001, I don’t remember if I even knew what our (Accelerate your life!) slogan was at that time. I was just trying to make sure I could tread water for five minutes, and do 50 push ups along with trying to memorize all the rates. Accelerate your life! was a good slogan and I didn’t pay attention to it till I made CS3 in Nov 02.
Most recruits are not going to see or give a damn about this new one until they are out in the fleet. I agree, it won’t hurt recruiting, but this new crap doesn’t exactly make us look good in the eyes of the world either.
We could have gone with something cool like,
“Set You Course & Speed, US NAVY!”
or
US NAVY, Join Us Today!!
Either of those slogans sound better than the one at present, or just stick with Accelerate your life! and save some money.
October 14th, 2009 at 8:03 pmWhoops, I need to work on my typing skills and punctuation.
That first one should have read…
“Set Your Course & Speed, US NAVY!”
October 14th, 2009 at 8:06 pmSorry for the cross-posting (from CDR S’s blog) – I am sure that before this was decided upon as the new slogan — it was “focus grouped” and was the one that had the most favorable response with the age demographic it was intended to impress/motivate.
Why a new slogan? Simple — we Americans have a relatively short attention span (thanks, Sesame Street…) and so you have constantly changing advertising campaigns for practically every product/service. Note: attention paid to every year’s Superbowl Ads…
So, Old Farts like us rarely like it as much as something else that we remember that really touched us…(and not many ads I can remember are as stirring as the very effective USMC ones).
On the whole, however, a BZ. I hope it works.
October 14th, 2009 at 9:30 pmOh soooo PC! I feel all warm and fuzzy now. One wonders if the PLAN is now quaking in its rapidly expanding (and I’m sure…PEACE loving) fleet?
Good grief, what’s next…a kinder gentler MARINE CORPS, too? Yes, I’m a former Marine….1965-69.
October 15th, 2009 at 11:02 am[...] week, a fellow contributor to USNI noticed that the US Navy has a new slogan: “America’s Navy – A Global Force for [...]
October 20th, 2009 at 10:50 am