PEACE CORPS IN THE 21 ST CENTURY: A RHETORICAL ANALYSIS

38go?” In 1999, the Peace Corps began to develop its new advertising strategies andlearned how to appeal to a new generation of volunteers. It was not until post-September11 th that the organization took an active role in recruiting a new advertising firm tohandle their public service announcements. This was also the first time in decades thatthe Peace Corps used money from their own budget to ensure a successful recruitmentcampaign.The Peace Corps saw a great need for public service campaigns, and in 2003, afteryears of limited or non-existent advertising budgets and relying on donated marketingaid, put $500,000 into a marketing campaign aimed at doubling their numbers. 98ThePeace Corps began accepting bids from advertising firms and asked 15 agencies on a listof qualified government contractors from the General Service Administration to makeproposals for a campaign that would include paid and public service announcements forTV and radio. 99Not only did the Peace Corps begin investing in their advertising and marketingstrategies; they also made a decision to diversify their volunteer corps in order to increasethe number of volunteers in service. An important aspect of today’s recruitment strategyis appealing to the non-white, non-college aged student. Former Peace Corps DirectorGaddi Vasquez made diversifying the Peace Corps his top priority. In the “Peace CorpsCharter for the 21 st Century Act,” he petitioned the Senate subcommittee on the PeaceCorps stating:[t]he agency will seek to expand recruitment efforts and increase diversityof our Volunteer population. This means that recruitment efforts will growbeyond college campuses. Just as the face of America has changed over the past