New TV ad highlights black Marine successes - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times

New TV ad highlights black Marine successes

The Corps has released a new recruiting TV commercial, focusing on historic firsts by two retired black Marine officers in conjunction with Black History Month.

The accomplishments of retired Lt. Gen. Frank Peterson, the first black pilot and three-star general in the Corps, and retired Maj. Gen. Charles Bolden Jr., the first black Marine to become an astronaut, are featured in the 30-second spot.

Called “Living a Legacy of Leadership,” the ad shows black and white photographs of the two Marines in their early and later years in the Corps. Their names are not said explicitly during narration, but the history of black Marines is quickly outlined, beginning with those who served at Montford Point, a now-closed, segregated boot camp aboard Camp Lejeune, N.C., where about 20,000 black men became Marines from 1942 to 1949.

“Montford Point was the first proving ground for many African-American Marines,” the narrator says in the ad, as old photographs of black Marines appear. “The Marine Corps values of honor, courage and commitment define their path to be first. Their determination to go to the highest level and beyond is proof their legacies will last.

“What will your legacy be?” the narrator concludes, as a photograph of a junior Marine in dress blues and pulling a sword flashes across the screen.

The ad aired for the first time Sunday on ESPN during an NBA game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Detroit Pistons. That follows a trend for Marine Corps Recruiting Command: Another advertisement created in part to appeal to black youth, “Leap,” aired for the first time during the NBA Finals in June. That commercial focused on the real-life story of Staff Sgt. Thomas Hill, a black senior drill instructor who credits boot camp with forcing him to face his fear of swimming.

In October, Marine officials said the Corps would look to improve its minority recruiting numbers in part by launching advertising targeting individual diversity groups. That same month, Maj. Gen.-select Robert Milstead, Recruiting Command’s commanding general, also launched a diversity advisory group focused on black recruiting.

“Diversity communities in general want to see that they’re a part of the picture,” said Lt. Col. Mike Zeliff, Recruiting Command’s assistant chief of staff for advertising. “They don’t want to be the whole picture, but they want to see that they’re a part of it.”

In June, a report by the Center for Analyses said years of declining black accessions in the Corps is a “cause for leadership concern.” The report said that while Hispanic accessions have been on the rise, the percentage of black accessions dropped nearly every year from fiscal 1990 to fiscal 2006, falling from about 18 percent to 7 percent.

The Corps increased black accessions to about 9.8 percent in fiscal 2008, which concluded Sept. 30. But it remains a concern, Marine officials said. About 13 percent of the U.S. identifies itself as black, according to census statistics.