The U.S. Secret Service teamed up with blockbuster Hollywood director Michael Bay to make a recruiting ad that aired at Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans Sunday night.
Bay — who has directed such films as the “Transformers” franchise, “Armageddon” and “Pearl Harbor” — put the spot together in less than two weeks, “a rapid timeline for a busy Hollywood hitter like Bay and typically slow-moving government agencies — indicating the importance of the ad to the Secret Service,” CNN reported.
Producing the ad cost an estimated $2 million, according to two unnamed sources, CNN said.
The NFL agreed to show it for free on the jumbotron at Caesars Superdome before the big game.
“If you weren’t able to attend tonight’s big game, you missed a jumbotron highlight! For 160 years, our agency has been a witness to history; and since 1901 we’ve protected the most important people and events, including #SuperBowlLIX,” the Secret Service posted on social media platform X along with the ad.
If you weren’t able to attend tonight’s big game, you missed a jumbotron highlight!
For 160 years, our agency has been a witness to history; and since 1901 we’ve protected the most important people and events, including #SuperBowlLIXhttps://t.co/BxpOgr5wut pic.twitter.com/SVLwiis4fE
— U.S. Secret Service (@SecretService) February 9, 2025
Abraham Lincoln signed the legislation creating the Secret Service on April 14, 1865 — the very day he was later assassinated at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C.
He was the first U.S. president to be shot and killed in office, while others, including President Donald Trump, have survived assassination attempts.
Bay was spotted recently shaking hands with Trump at Joint Base Andrews as the president was preparing to board Air Force One.
“Sources familiar with the project say Bay was shooting the recruiting ad on-site,” CNN reported.
Bay’s ad opened with a narrator saying, “America was founded on an idea of freedom. America’s always stepped forward in time of need throughout our short but powerful history.”
It showed images of George Washington crossing the Delaware River during the Revolutionary War, Lincoln on a Civil War battlefield, and soldiers fighting in World War II.
The spot also included former presidents John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan delivering their most famous lines, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country” and “Tear down this wall,” respectively.
“We’ve been there for all of it,” the narrator said, showing Secret Service agents saving Reagan’s life from a would-be assassin in 1981, and agents evacuating and protecting former President George W. Bush following the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.
“Protectors are born, they’re not made,” the narrator asserted, showing agents surrounding Trump after gunfire rang out in Butler, Pennsylvania, last summer.
After I came out in support of Trump in 2015 during the primary, most of Hollywood blacklisted me, especially after he won in 2016 but Michael Bay approved me after that to direct a video for the Transformers film franchise. I’ll always remember cancel culture didn’t scare him. https://t.co/05yPn8tTEZ
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) February 9, 2025
Shortly after his inauguration in January, Trump chose Sean Curran, who led his Secret Service detail during the presidential campaign, to head the agency.
When asked about the promotional ad, Curran’s spokesman 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.”
The ad noted that the Secret Service protected the Super Bowl event.
Bay told CNN in a statement, “This was a spot to honor the true silent heroes who protect the leaders of our democracy.”
The ad was evidently very well received.
“Social media went wild for a patriotic ad for the US Secret Service during Super Bowl that featured iconic scenes from American history including the attempted assassination of Donald Trump,” the U.K’s Daily Mail reported, noting that fans called the spot “epic” and “a great move.”
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