More than 100 million football fans will hear the Gospel during Sunday’s (February 11) Super Bowl thanks to an ad campaign titled He Gets Us which aims to reveal Jesus of the Bible through messages of love and forgiveness, according to its website. “We believe His words, example, and life have relevance in our lives today and offer hope for a better future,” it reads.
At last year’s Super Bowl, the He Gets Us campaign spent nearly A$30 million on two spots to spread that message. It invested another A$120 million in taking the message in other formats such as billboards to cities across America. “We simply want everyone to understand the authentic Jesus as he’s depicted in the Bible — the Jesus of radical forgiveness, compassion, and love,” the website says.
Last year, the Super Bowl which is usually the most watched annual television event in the US, attracted around 115 million viewers. CBN News reports that this year the ad campaign had an early start, playing its black and white commercials during the NFL play-offs, which generated more than 166 million impressions. “We’ve had three ads that have been running on a lot of the big sports networks leading up to the Super Bowl,” said Jordan Carson, Director of Communications for He Gets Us.
“We are trying to introduce people, including some who might be sceptical of Christianity, to Jesus’s relevance in modern-day life and to call upon Christians to reflect His teachings in the way they treat other people,” he continued, adding that the objective is to get people to associate the story of Jesus with love, rather than hate, by making the ads relatable.
Last year’s ads encouraged viewers to “love your enemies.” This year the ads will emphasise “loving our neighbours like Jesus did and encouraging people to respect and serve each other,” Greg Miller, a spokesperson for the campaign, told Rolling Stone magazine.
CBN News reports, the campaign was launched in 2022 with a A$150 million budget to reach people via TV, radio, digital ads, billboards, and experiential platforms. David Green, the billionaire co-founder and chief executive of Hobby Lobby Stores, is helping fund this year’s commercials.
“What we’re known as, as Christians, we’re known as haters. But we’re not. We are people that have the very, very best love story ever written, and we need to tell that love story. So, our idea is, let’s tell the story. As a Christian, you should love everybody. Jesus loved everybody,” said Mr. Green.
