“Christian” Super Bowl Ad Flawed

At this year’s Super Bowl, one ad stood out from the rest due to its devilishly subtle and woke presentation of Christ.

The 14 million dollar ad campaign called He Gets Us was a montage of “oppressed/oppressor” foot-washing images that finished with the statement “Jesus didn’t teach hate. He washed feet.” Later on in the game, a 15-second ad posed the question “Who is my neighbor?” which it answered with pictures of the “unnoticed,” “undervalued,” and “unwelcomed.”

Looking beyond the ads themselves, we start to reveal why these ads could have strayed so far from the truth of the Gospel. Those behind the campaign don’t all claim to be Christians, with some who don’t even believe Jesus is the son of God but have a “deep admiration” for him and are “curious” about his story.

In addition, Ken Calwell, who is the CEO of Come Near which is the organization that runs the He Gets Us campaign, is on LinkedIn displaying pronouns in his bio, a classic signature of those who identify with leftist ideology.

Why does this matter? Because Christians have been praising the campaign but haven’t looked beyond the surface to understand the organization nor the fundamentally flawed message it presents.

In a world where so many have become alienated by the woke religion that is sweeping nations and the leftist political tenants that accompany it, the only alternative is found in the pure, unadulterated gospel which the He Gets Us ads invert.

The ads endorse our current culture’s values which adamantly and enthusiastically stand in opposition to Christianity.

Joel Berry on X discussed this issue very well saying He Gets Us was “A) trying to sell Jesus to Leftists by hinting Jesus thinks just like them, or B) cynically using Jesus to sell a political movement.”

In response to his own questions, Berry responded that “Since the campaign admits it’s funded by both Christians and non-Christians, I’m thinking the answer is both. And it’s framed in this devilishly clever way to where anyone mad about the commercial is made to look like they’re “preachers of hate,” angry at the very idea of foot washing. A deceptive, nasty, passive-aggressive, but effective tactic.”

One of the ad quotes which flashed across millions of America’s screens read ‘Jesus didn’t teach hate’. Can you see the issue with this quote within today’s cultural narrative? The word “hate” is highly abused, often used to describe those with differing perspectives that it has nearly lost the sting that true hate carries. In 2024, the word “hate” has been forced to include and describe those who do not absolutely affirm those living the LGBTQ+ lifestyle. If this is indeed the premise that He Gets Us presents, then Christians are, by association with Christ, in sin. But not in sin against God but in sin against an ideology.

Absolute acceptance and adoption of this campaign’s intersectional, woke tenants ultimately rejects the call of the Gospel which calls all people, regardless of their position, status, wealth or any other feature or characteristic to repentance. But cultural acceptance is what the campaign presented as fundamental to the Gospel. This is even a departure from the demands for tolerance of just a couple years ago. So here we are, from tolerance to acceptance. The age old question yet again arises – what would Jesus do? What would Jesus say?

Those behind He Gets Us don’t understand Christ. This ad campaign is an inversion of Christ’s message as it makes us and our feelings the focus instead of Him. Wokeism is placed at the epicenter instead of Christ’s redemption. This is the antithesis of Christ’s call to forsake ourselves and follow him.

In these last days, we must be careful of those we promote and endorse.

When we see messages that have the appearance of goodness, we must try them against the Word of God for many will come in these times with messages that scratch our ears (2 Timothy 4:3), but it is up to us to make sure that we fully understand who is behind these campaigns and what the real message is above the surface, feel good misrepresentation of who Jesus is.

Jesus is humanity’s redemption and salvation which he freely gives when we choose to turn away from our sins and receive him into our hearts. His salvation doesn’t come from accepting another’s sin for in that we reject the rescue mission we are a part of when we are brought into the family of God – to go and make disciples.

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