Before Welcome Back Kotter introduced us (over the age of 50) to John Travolta, he was in an Army recruiting commercial, and so was a Corvette, as the military was desperate to recruit new people in spite of the Vietnam War

if that isn't corny enough to make every vet barf, try this:

The end of the Vietnam War was a nadir for the armed forces, because 10 years of going to burials for KIA family, friends, and school classmates caused low morale, the military hadn't done much to quell racial strife, and drug use. 

The draft was fully discontinued in 1973 – and the DOD was becoming an all-volunteer force. Those volunteers were going to need a lot of convincing.

So the military’s first modern recruiting efforts were promises of sideburns, beach volleyball, and fast cars.

Take the John Travolta ad with the enticing promise of $288 a month that you won’t even need to spend on housing. You get 30 days of “paid vacation,” otherwise known as leave, that you can presumably spend with that beautiful woman draping a lei over your neck. Best of all? You can spend that $288 on a bitchin’ ride.

https://taskandpurpose.com/history/john-travolta-military-recruiting-commercial/