The Marine Corps has also been consistent over the course of the AVF in its almost-
exclusive focus on men. The language and visual imagery of the advertisements reinforce the
impression that the Marine Corps is a bastion of masculinity and a place to become a man.
While advertising by the other services frequently uses the term "men and women,” the Marine’s
print ads virtually always use the word “men” only. The ad sample contains a single exception;
one ad from 1976 makes reference to “a few good men, a few determined women.” Other ads
from the same year look for “a few good men with ambition” and “Men who’ll make good
Marines.” 1976 was the year the Marines stopped using the slogan “We’re Looking for a Few
Good Men,” and by the next year they began to end each ad: “The Few. The Proud. The
Marines.” Even after the direct reference to men was removed from the slogan, the print ads
continued to directly address men and describe the Marines in exclusively masculine terms. In
1981, the Marines bragged that they were “Men at their best.” The expression “a few good men”
continued to appear within the text of recruiting ads, from a 1982 ad that describes the Marines
as “A few good men prepared to get the job done,” to one from 1990 that notes that “Pride” can
be found in a few good men. The 1990 “Pride” ad goes on to describes the kind of man who is
one of a few good men. A Marine is “not just any kind of man, he’s one of a kind,” and one can
see “from the determined look in his eye” that “he possess an unusual quality that says he is
something special.” The ad asks the reader to “take a good look at this man” and ask yourself
whether “you think you see yourself in him.” This is not a gender-neutral use of the term “man,”
but a clear invitation to men to imagine themselves as Marines.
Visually, the ads portray a male world. My print ad sample contained only a single
image of a female Marine. In a 1979 ad which asks, “How do you know if you’re cut out for the
Corps?” a white male Marine in a dress uniform stands in the center of the frame. An African-
American male Marine stands behind his left shoulder, and that lone female Marine stands
behind his right shoulder. She smiles broadly, with her teeth showing. In very few of the ads do
Marines ever smile, and when they do their mouths are generally closed.
The Marines are also known for their dramatic, memorable television commercials. They
produce one major ad every few years, and air them during sporting events watched by a young,
male demographic and in movie theaters (Minogue, 2002). The commercials generally show a
young man undergoing a challenge and then being transformed into a Marine. These spectacular
challenges have included an animated dragon, a maze, and an opposing knight on a life-sized
chessboard. The two most recent major commercials are “The Climb” and “For Country.” In
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Convention