The US Secret Service has reportedly spent $2 million on a Michael Bay-produced Super Bowl Sunday recruiting ad to attract new agents.
The pricey ad from the blockbuster director – known for action flicks like “Armageddon,” “The Rock” and the “Transformers” series – will likely be unveiled on the jumbotron inside New Orleans’ Caesars Superdome just before the title game, CNN reported, quoting multiple NFL and Secret Service sources.
One source said it cost double what was spent on previous recruiting ads for the law enforcement agency that famously protects the president.
At least the feds won’t have to pay the bonkers fees networks charge for Super Bowl ads – a 30-second TV spot costs up the $8 million this year, but the ad time was donated, the outlet said.
The move comes at a critical time for the agency, whose members have been wracked with burnout and besieged with morale and retention problems.
Those problems came to light following the two assassination attempts against President Trump — one in July in which a sniper shot him in the ear and narrowly missed his head, and a second in which a gunman laid in wait at his golf course.
That attempt was thwarted — with Trump just a few hundred yards away — when a Secret Service agent spotted the camouflaged rifle barrel and opened fire, scaring off the would-be assassin.
The commercial will highlight the agency’s role in protecting national leaders – and point out that the Secret Service is securing the very game everyone is watching since Trump is expected to attend, sources said.
They also noted that it includes historical footage of presidents John F. Kennedy – who was assassinated in 1963 – and Ronald Reagan, who survived a 1981 assassination attempt that nonetheless nearly killed him.
A source familiar with the ad also told CNN there would likely be a picture of Trump taken the day he survived his own assassination attempt last year in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“I came up with the concept for the PSA that America was founded on the idea of freedom,” Bay told CNN.
“Throughout our short but powerful history as Americans, we have always stepped forward in time of need,” he continued. “This was a spot to honor the true silent heroes who protect the leaders of our democracy.”
Secret Service Director Sean Curran added through a spokesperson that he had “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.”
The spot was put together in just nine days, according to Curran.
“As director, my focus will always be to lean forward to meet the needs of our workforce,” he said.
Bay was spotted shaking hands with Trump last week as he boarded Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, where sources say Bay was shooting the ad on-site, network said.
It wasn’t clear for much of the week when the ad would actually air, however.
It was supposed to hit the jumbotron during the game, but a league source told CNN on Friday that fell through because the Secret Service submitted its request too late, and the ad space had already been locked up.
Less than a day later, the NFL said it found room.
The Secret Service plans to use the ad — which it will own for five years — on social media to drive its recruitment efforts.