Don’t worry, fans of “protecting and defending Americans”; the U.S. army will still be running its previously-stalled “Be All You Can Be” ad campaign during the NCAA final four–just without its star player.
The Army initially announced that the ads would be pulled earlier this week, when spokesman Jonathan Majors was arrested on allegations of domestic violence. The Marvel and Creed III actor has since been charged with “several counts of assault in the third degree, three counts of attempted assault in the third degree, one count of aggravated harassment in the second degree, and one count harassment in the second degree.” Majors and his team deny any wrongdoing and assert that they are gathering evidence to prove the actor is “completely innocent and is provably the victim” of the altercation.
Whichever way this case plays out, the U.S. Army (not exactly a group with a spotless reputation) is trying to keep their image as clean as possible and have decided to stay out of the conflict altogether (another thing they’re, historically, not so great at). Maj. Gen. Alex Fink, head of Army marketing, told the Associated Press today that the $117 million ad campaign would be going forward in a retooled fashion (via Deadline).
“A majority of that content did not contain our main narrator… So we have a ton of content to go back to, to create basically new commercials, new ads, if we need to,” said Fink. “The campaign is full steam ahead.”
As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Majors was initially selected for the campaign for his rising star, and the fact that he represented “someone who could be a big brother or big sister to the young adult making this decision.” Now, Gen Z will just have to make that choice on their own without big brother influencing them do so.