But as the times changed after the Civil War – and the idea of public relations and marketing began to take hold – the leadership of the Corps decided to take a gamble and work with PR, Marketing, and Advertising to invent The Corps as an elite organization only the toughest could join. An organization that, as Dora Stewart remembers, “didn’t take applications, only commitments.”

The Corps started this mission by dogging its main benefactor, the Navy. Their message: “We’re the real men, we’re out front, risking our lives while [sailors] are in [their] ships, protected,” Venable said, “So there is very much an element of gender and masculinity that [The Corps] used. But the Marine Corps brilliance was that they were the first to want their members to love the institution and not just serve in it. There was an emotional attachment that they began to inculcate in their members.”

By the end of the First World War, the Marine Corps identity was fully formed. They saw themselves as they do today as an elite, mainly expeditionary infantry fighting force that is meant to be outgunned, outmanned – and expects itself and its members to prevail anyway. 

The Corps ability to use available media channels to push its Corps-centered propaganda to a generation readying for war also aided in its recruitment. “One of the clever things [The Corps] did was use newspapers,” Venable said of the Marines PR Machine of the early 20th century, “They would make these draft newspaper articles and then put them out to newspapers across the country. Some of them were even personalized, talking about, ‘Johnny Dean from Portland, Oregon has done better than anyone else in the history of this marksmanship event; isn’t that swell?’ Those kind of personalized connection could go back to local communities and reinforce [their marketing efforts].”

These tactics show up in their marketing – as does their ideal of service for service’s sake and the idea that people can transform themselves into the best version of themselves by serving in The Corps. It worked in the First World War. Venable noted the Corps stopped recruiting for itself at one point in the conflict and turned its eyes to helping the bigger branches recruit because it was so far ahead of its goals – and the other branches were behind on theirs.

The Corps’ recruiting strategy, then and now, contrasts with other branches. 

“I was recently looking at Army, Navy and Air Force Recruiting websites,” Venable recalls, “The Army and the Navy has this big headline that says, “up to sixty thousand dollars, or whatever it is, in bonuses. And then it also has to ‘be a better person.’ ‘This is gonna be an exciting journey.’ ‘You’re gonna challenge yourself and grow.’ But, there is not as much mention of war. The Marine Corps, by contrast, they do not have these big headlines of bonuses, although I’m pretty sure they still give them. They don’t advertise them. And even if you go on their webpage that talks about financial benefits.. they have the loftiest, most idealistic language you could ever imagine: ‘Because you battle for us, we will battle for you.’ ‘your brothers will always be by you.’ It is the most rhetorical discussion of pay and benefits you could possibly imagine.”

When it comes down to it, it helps that The Corps simply has fewer slots to fill as well. “When you don’t need as many recruits as some of the other services, you can use a more consistent message in a way that might not be as appealing to an organization that needs a bigger cross-section of society to fill its ranks to meet its recruiting quotas,” Venable said.