In mid-1976, a Pentagon psychologist managed to convince Pres. Rockefeller that the glam-rock act Kiss conveyed just the right combination of rebellious individualism and regimented militarism to help instill patriotic values in young teenaged males, with the eventual aim of encouraging military enlistment when those same boys came of age.
So, Kiss were recruited to front a sort of junior-ROTC, appearing in TV ads, "lecturing" at Legion Halls, starring in their own series of hack-written adventure novels, etc. This was actually seen as a rather brilliant PR move on the Pentagon's part, but of course it had some pretty regrettable consequences in the long run, sometimes decades down the road. Especially in terms of the kind of person who was recruited into the military as a result.
So, is there any way to prevent this misguided reccruitment strategy from coming into being? And what might have been the effect on the reputations of both Kiss and the US military?
So, Kiss were recruited to front a sort of junior-ROTC, appearing in TV ads, "lecturing" at Legion Halls, starring in their own series of hack-written adventure novels, etc. This was actually seen as a rather brilliant PR move on the Pentagon's part, but of course it had some pretty regrettable consequences in the long run, sometimes decades down the road. Especially in terms of the kind of person who was recruited into the military as a result.
So, is there any way to prevent this misguided reccruitment strategy from coming into being? And what might have been the effect on the reputations of both Kiss and the US military?
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