Bud Light, Doritos, Taco Bell — and Jesus Christ. All of these things may be associated with heaven, depending on your tastes. But a more recent common denominator between all of them is Super Bowl LIX.
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00:00Bud Light, Doritos, Taco Bell, and Jesus Christ.
00:05All of these things may be associated with heaven, depending on your tastes, but a more
00:09recent common denominator between all of them is Super Bowl LII, or the commercial breaks,
00:14at least.
00:15The big game, after all, is like the Cannes Film Festival of ads.
00:19Ad spots this year reportedly cost about $7 to $8 million for 30 seconds of airtime.
00:24A minute of that airtime went to the He Gets Us campaign.
00:28The 60-second commercial aired during the first half of the Super Bowl and featured
00:32various images of people in times of need, some alone, others receiving help, such as
00:37at a football game.
00:39The visuals were accompanied by the unmistakable voice of Johnny Cash, slowly singing his classic
00:44cover of Depeche Mode's 1989 song, Personal Jesus.
00:48Like similar ads before it, it ended with the tagline,
00:51"'He gets us.
00:53All of us.'"
00:54While that may be true, the reverse evidently is not, because there were a lot of people
00:58who didn't get any part of the ad or understand who was behind it and what it was doing in
01:03the ad lineup of the Super Bowl.
01:06Football fans were first exposed to the He Gets Us Super Bowl ads in 2023, when not one
01:11but two commercials for the campaign aired during the big game.
01:15The same thing happened in 2024 at Super Bowl 58, and a lot of people have always found
01:20them a little weird.
01:22After the first ads in 2023, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez posted on X a comment
01:29that resonated with many.
01:31She wrote,
01:32"'Something tells me Jesus would not spend millions of dollars on Super Bowl ads to make
01:36fascism look benign.'"
01:38It then came to light that the people behind the ad were the Servant Foundation, which
01:43also happened to be a huge donor, contributing millions to legal funds in support of anti-LGBTQ
01:49legislation.
01:50Although the Servant Foundation kept its sponsors private, Hobby Lobby co-founder David Green
01:55revealed he was a contributor.
01:57Hobby Lobby is known for selling silk flowers, cheap hot glue, and for a Supreme Court case
02:02that now allows companies to use religion as a reason to deny coverage for contraception.
02:07The He Gets Us campaign has since changed hands and is now run by ComeNear, a nonprofit
02:12organization that took over in 2024.
02:16They're responsible for the 2025 Super Bowl ad, which has received a lukewarm response,
02:21and not just from people who wouldn't call themselves believers.
02:24One Christian ex-user wrote,
02:26"'He Gets Us' spends millions on these commercials.
02:29How about Feed People instead?"
02:31In addition to people questioning the sheer amount of cash spent purchasing the ad spots,
02:36some argued that any amount of money would have been better spent helping those in need
02:39instead of just doing photo shoots about them.
02:42They also questioned whether or not Jesus Christ himself would have approved the ad
02:46campaign in his name.
02:47New York Times bestselling author Ali Beth Stuckey shared on X,
02:51"'I am for any campaign that brings people to the gospel.
02:54But again, He Gets Us misses the mark.
02:57There is nothing at all in their ads about who Christ is or why we need him.
03:01It's not even remotely implied.
03:03If anything, an unbeliever walks away feeling affirmed that Jesus is, at most, his buddy
03:09who exists to cheer him on."
03:11It offers the invitation, right?
03:13But it forgets what the invitation is for.
03:16Another ex-user had a more succinct take, writing,
03:19"'I don't think He Gets Us gets Jesus.'"