'Even a dog enlists, why not you?' recruiting poster
The pattern
This still is filed under Recruiting duty offer.
Define
Join us, framed as who you become, not as a job listing.
Mechanism
Identity offer. The role is a self. Benefits are secondary to the person you will be after you say yes.
Verdict
We are recruiting into a hard, proud, or transforming role: service, craft, a company with a real culture.
Why it works
Uses guilt and shame through comparison. By elevating the dog's service, it challenges the masculinity and patriotism of the unenlisted reader.
The big idea
A Red Cross dog in full harness stands on a hill above a burning town, and the headline asks why a man should do less than an animal.
The offer
Enlist at 660 Market St., San Francisco, or any U.S. Army Recruiting Station.
Lines from the ad
EVEN A DOG ENLISTS WHY NOT YOU ?660 MARKET ST. SAN FRANCISCOOr any U.S. Army Recruiting StationSteal this when
You want to shame a target audience into action by showing someone with fewer resources or obligations stepping up to do it.
The emotion
Written to Shame. It makes the Avoid mistake.
A harnessed Red Cross dog above a burning town beside 'Even a dog enlists, why not you?' tells the man he does less than an animal, making him the problem.
Guilt heavier than the lapse · Puts the problem on the reader
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