When Jesus came to the Super Bowl
(And other thoughts on that time when private donors paid for Jesus-ad space during the most watched annual sporting event in the world)
I don’t exactly have the best track record when it comes to watching the Super Bowl.
There was the year I sat on a friend’s couch, a novel in one hand, a plate of nachos in the other, and the Super Bowl on television ten feet in front of me. It’s called multi-tasking, people.
There were the years I went to the gym, to the garden store, to the upstairs bedroom, to anywhere besides the barbaric display of sweaty men-folk and pig skin shenanigans.
So when I told my husband I’d be watching the Super Bowl this year, he only asked a single question in reply: “Why?”
And to that, my answer was simple: “Because Jesus is coming to the commercials, baby!”
There really wasn’t a whole lot more to the conversation. For weeks, I’d been following the announcement that a global community and ministry called The Signatry, known for its support of conservative causes, had paid $20 million to fund two advertisements for the “He Gets Us” campaign. According to an NPR report, “the only donor who has claimed ownership of the campaign is billionaire David Green, the founder and CEO of Hobby Lobby, which won a 2014 U.S. Supreme Court case that exempted some companies with strong religious beliefs from providing employees some contraceptive care.” The remaining 50 families backing the effort have remained anonymous.
The ads, of course, were pretty stellar. Both of the 30-second commercials followed a similar concept using (mostly) static images of black and white photography, with a lead-up to a singular message. In the first ad, “Be Childlike,” viewers saw different images of kids helping one another, performing acts of kindness, and running toward each other in love. Coming in at No. 8 of all the Super Bowl ads, the music was nostalgic, its message simple: “Jesus didn’t want us to act like adults. He gets us. All of us.” In everything, “us” was emphasized in yellow font instead of the usual white.
Likewise, the second ad, “Love Your Enemies” followed a similar trajectory of static, black and white images. Adults leaned over the counters of restaurants, they got up in one another’s faces on the streets, they screamed in anger and hate. Just as the background music increased in intensity, the images sped up on the screen. Coming in at No. 15 this time, its message was just as simple: “Jesus loved the people we hate. He gets us. All of us.”
Now, hear me out: I like Jesus. I’m pretty fond of the dude. I write about him, I preach about him, I even, occasionally, talk to others about him.
But I do not try and sell Jesus, nor do I subscribe to a religion that need sell others on its star attraction.
Yes, the Christian Church is in decline. The giant “rummage sale” that happens every 500 or so years in Christianity is upon us now.1 According to a 2021 study from the Pew Research Center, approximately 10,000 people stop identifying as Christian every day in America.
Need almost $1 billion in ads, grants, and marketing schemes be spent to promote a new, pluricultural version of Jesus? Need the image of Jesus be washed from a "concept owned by the Christian Right into a more plural ethnic picture that is not for all not nor for the stereotypical Christian follower"?2 Need 100 million people be reached with this more accurate picture of Jesus in the first place?
Carlos Rodriguez, founder of The Happy Givers, said the following in response: “You know what would be better ‘branding’ for Jesus? Using 100 million dollars on the priorities of Jesus: Feed the hungry. Welcome the stranger. Care for the sick. Liberate the oppressed. Love our neighbors. Yes, He gets us. We don’t seem to get him.”
Of course, the irony lies in The Signatry’s mission statement: “Together, we can solve the world’s greatest problems through generosity.”
Ponder that statement for a second, now think:
Through generosity, $20 million could run 200 food pantry ministries at a home or church.3 Through generosity, $20 million could provide healthcare to 105,263 asylum seekers and refugees at the El Paso border.4 Through generosity, $20 million could go towards caring for 2,222 people struggling with homelessness during a hospital visit.5 Through generosity, $20 million means that David Green could begin to put a dent in the estimated $12 trillion dollars needed to pay reparations to the descendants of slaves.6 Through generosity, $20 million could help cities across the U.S. love their neighbors by hosting 1,000 "Guns to Gardens" programs.7
I’m just putting a few numbers behind Carlos’ thoughts, particularly when it comes to how money might be spent by a Christian organization that desires to solve the world’s greatest problems through generosity alone.
But I highly doubt that’s going to happen anytime soon.
So, giddy-up, y’all: we’re about to be sold more Jesus, whether we like it or not.
Phyllis Tribble, of course. Read The Great Emergence if you want to learn more.
Both of those sentences in that paragraph are paraphrased or quoted from Andy Restrepo: Andy Restrepo: https://en.as.com/nfl/who-is-behind-the-he-gets-us-jesus-commercials-in-the-super-bowl-how-much-did-they-cost-n/
https://www.profitableventure.com/starting-a-food-pantry-business/
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0278386
https://www.greendoors.org/facts/cost.php
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/12/slavery-reparations-cost-us-government-10-to-12-trillion.html
I only know this number because I was involved with putting the event on. For more on the gun buyback event, read this article: https://oaklandside.org/2022/08/04/guns-to-gardens-oakland-firearms-buyback-program/