PEACE CORPS IN THE 21 ST CENTURY: A RHETORICAL ANALYSIS

35changing civic values in the new millennium discussed in Chapter One. The 1960scampaigns’ focus on sacrifice and service no longer appeals to volunteers as it once did.The Peace Corps’ recruitment rhetoric provides information to potentialvolunteers, educates the American public about service, and generates greater visibilityfor the organization. The public service announcement (PSA), a central resource withinthe campaign, targets varying service groups encouraging them to join the organization.The PSAs also direct interested parties to the Peace Corps’ web site, where they can learnmore about the organization’s goals and service. The public relations campaign helps toremind the American public that the organization still exists. The broad-based campaignincludes billboards, television commercials, print advertisements, radio spots, and anaward-winning web site. This campaign begun in 2003 was the first major effort to bringexposure to Peace Corps recruitment since the 1970s.This chapter examines the scope and rhetorical nature of the Peace Corps’recruitment campaign, not only to illustrate how different segments of society weretargeted with different messages, but also to identify how these messages reinforced thecharacteristics of service today. Toward this end, this chapter will first discuss thegeneral characteristics of the campaign and the different audiences it targets, and thenanalyze certain messages emphasizing particular themes. It concludes with a discussionof the implications of the rhetorical strategies utilized by the campaign to promoterecruitment.