The United States Secret Service tapped blockbuster movie director Michael Bay to create a recruiting advertisement that is expected to be unveiled in the stadium on Super Bowl Sunday, according to multiple NFL and Secret Service sources, Report informs via CNN.
The ad cost an estimated $2 million for the Secret Service to produce, according to two sources familiar with the project — a hefty price tag that comes amid massive budget cuts and layoffs at other government agencies.
One source told CNN the estimated $2 million budget is about double what was spent on previous Secret Service recruiting ads.
The ad is expected to air during the pregame show on a jumbotron inside New Orleans’ Superdome stadium, according to a source close to the NFL. The ad time is being donated, so the Secret Service will not have to pay an additional fee. Ad buys during Super Bowl Sunday typically cost millions of dollars, with a 30-second ad airing on television costing up to $8 million this year.
The ad’s purpose of recruitment comes at a crucial time, as the Secret Service has been wracked with low morale, burnout, staffing and retention issues. The thrust of the ad showcases the Secret Service’s role in protecting the nation’s leaders and points out the very game the audience is attending is secured by the agency, according to sources familiar with the ad.
But it does feature footage that could be seen to highlight some of the agency’s most visible failures, including images of President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963, as well as the July 2024 assassination attempt on then-candidate Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, and footage of former President Ronald Reagan, who was shot and wounded in 1981.
The ad spot also shows images of President Abraham Lincoln, who signed legislation creating the Secret Service the very day he was assassinated in 1865.
Through a spokesperson, Secret Service Director Sean Curran told CNN that he “empowered the team to identify a novel and expedient approach that leveraged one of the most recognizable Directors to produce a representation of the men and women behind the Secret Service within nine days while ensuring compliance with requisite rules.”
