Two of the most-talked-about Super Bowl ads on Sunday focused on an unlikely topic: Jesus.
(Bloomberg) — Two of the most-talked-about Super Bowl ads on Sunday focused on an unlikely topic: Jesus.
One featured short video clips and black-and-white photos of children hugging and displayed the message, “Jesus didn’t want us to act like adults.” In the other: black-and-white photos of people yelling at each other in heated confrontations with the message, “Jesus loved the people we hate.”
Both ads direct viewers to the website hegetsus.com, which describes itself as a “movement to reintroduce people to the Jesus of the Bible.” The ads are part of an initiative by a nonprofit called the Servant Foundation, doing business under the name the Signatry, according to tax documents available from ProPublica, an investigative journalism group.
The spots sparked debate on social media. On Twitter, US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, wrote: “Something tells me Jesus would *not* spend millions of dollars on Super Bowls ads to make fascism look benign.”
The campaign’s supporters include David Green, the founder of Hobby Lobby. The craft-store chain famously won a Supreme Court case letting companies invoke religious liberty to avoid compliance with the contraception-coverage mandate under the Affordable Care Act.
In an email, HeGetsUs said, “The goal is that the two commercials will not only inspire those who may be skeptical of Christianity to ask questions and learn more about Jesus, but also encourage Christians to live out their faith even better and exhibit the same confounding love and forgiveness Jesus modeled.”
On its website, the Signatry calls itself a “donor-advised fund sponsor” that began in 2000 and has “facilitated more than $3 billion in transformational grants for nonprofits around the world.” The group probably spent about $12 million on the ads, based on the prices that broadcaster Fox Corp. charged for 30-second spots during the game, annually the most-watched TV event in the US.
According to the 2020 tax form, the Signatry has donated to the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal and advocacy group that has represented clients opposed to abortion and contraception, and has backed state restrictions on transgender students.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.