Acting Pentagon press secretary Joel Valdez echoes Trump’s assertion that with its rebranded platform, the military is reaching “records for recruitment.” (Under Trump, the US Army has raised the maximum recruitment age from 35 to 42 and lifted barriers to enlistment for those with only a single conviction for marijuana or drug paraphernalia possession. But data suggests that a mix of factors, including some Biden-era programs, is responsible for any uptick.)
“The Peace Through Strength ad showcases the incredible power of America’s Joint Force, reinforcing that our unmatched military capability is the ultimate guarantor of national security. Inspired by President Trump’s vision of ‘peace through strength,’ the American people are answering the call in droves, driving recruitment in the Military Services to historic new highs as they step up to join the fight,” Valdez tells VF.
Where Is Trump’s War.gov Ad Playing?
Trump and Hegseth’s big-man-on-campus approach to military recruitment has, according to social media posts and online forums like Reddit, infiltrated ad breaks across programming on CNN and Peacock, with the ad also showing before some Regal theater screenings of Disclosure Day and during the UFC White House event, which was shown live in theaters. Warner Bros. Discovery and NBCUniversal, which own the platforms on which the advertisement has reportedly played, did not immediately return Vanity Fair’s requests for comment. It’s worth noting that media companies receive ad buys from a number of private and public sector entities, including government agencies. All advertising buys are subject to standards guidelines and rules, such as ones mandating disclosures about who funded any political ads and stating that those ads “generally will be accepted if there is a factual basis for the claims and such claims fall within the bounds of reasonable debate.”
The ad, which began running in mid-June, has already caused waves in certain markets. “The audience was stunned,” Rev. Chuck Currie, a minister in Portland, Oregon, who saw Trump’s ad with his family before the pre-film trailers at a Regal screening of Disclosure Day, told USA Today, describing the video as “a propaganda piece promoting Trump and the MAGA agenda.” Regal did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the publication, but Currie called the theater chain’s decision to show the video “an endorsement of Donald Trump, his failed war in Iran, and the white Christian nationalism advocated by Secretary Hegseth.” Regal did not immediately return Vanity Fair’s request for comment.
Currie’s multiple posts about the offending ad drew several responses on Facebook from others who claimed to have also seen the advertisement. Elsewhere on the West Coast, Julie Bravo, president and chief marketing officer of Evolved Multi-tainment Management, which runs a half dozen California theaters, said the video had been mistakenly shown at one of the company’s establishments and “was not approved for our preshow programming.” “As soon as we became aware of the issue, we took steps to have it removed,” Bravo said, as reported by USA Today. “We firmly believe that our guests come to the movies to enjoy entertainment and an escape from the issues and divisions of everyday life, and political advertising is not something we intend to present on our screens.”
