In Mission, Texas, a U.S. Army recruiting billboard features a stern-faced soldier with the words “Stand Strong. Stand Tall. Stand Out.” In bigger text to the side, the words “Win a Wii” appear.
The Nintendo Wii is the newest advertising hook in the Rio Grande Valley. According to the U.S. Army, a total of seven billboards have went up along the Texas-Mexico border last month, urging those interesting in serving their country, and winning Nintendo’s hard-to-find system, to send a text message on their cell phones. A reply message then directs them to the Army Web site, where they can register to win the Wii and visit a recruiter.
“It’s really not ‘Join the Army, get a Wii,’” Bart Keyes, chief of advertising and public affairs at the Army’s San Antonio Recruiting Battalion, told The Associated Press.
The advertising campaign helps judge the effectiveness of the billboards, which each display different numbers.
“When you advertise, you need a hook,” Keyes said.
The lure of a Wii, however, isn’t enough to entice many high-school grads into the Army. Response has been “very, very minimal,” and the Army will end the campaign in May.
