What’s Up With Those He Gets Us Super Bowl Ads?

In the midst of goofy beer ads, the latest Batman (sorry, The Flash) movie trailer and flashy halftime shows featuring Rihanna, you might have noticed a decidedly different ad for He Gets Us. The ad is for, of all things, Jesus Christ.

The first question you might be asking is: does Jesus Christ need advertising? He’s a pretty popular guy, all told. But then, so is Coca-Cola, and they still get ads. So it’s the same sort of principle, right?

Well… Sort of. He Gets Us actually has a much more complicated, and far murkier history than the popular soft drink, and isn’t as simple as “isn’t Jesus great? Enjoy the game!” So let’s get into what you need to know about these mysterious advertisements.

What Is He Gets Us, The Organization Behind Those Super Bowl Ads?

Two ads are airing during the big game: one a 30 second piece that ran in the first quarter and features kids doing kids stuff while Patsy Cline sings in the background; the other is 60 seconds long, and will air in the fourth quarter, featuring black and white photos of people arguing with the tagline “Jesus loved the people we hate,” according to the New York Times.

Both ads are part of a larger campaign by the Servant Foundation that has been running since 2022 and seeks to raise the relevance of Jesus to everyday life in America; connecting his teachings to issues like immigration and artificial intelligence.

If the inclusion of immigration raised your eyebrows a bit, well, your eyebrows are correct.

What Is The Servant Organization, And What Is Their Connection to Anti-LGBTQ Hate Group Alliance Defending Freedom?

According to USA Today, the Servant Organization made $405 million in fiscal year 2020. From regular calendar year 2018-2020, the Servant Organization donated $50 million to Alliance Defending Freedom, a non-profit that not only fights abortion rights, but in 2016 was listed as an anti-LGBTQ hate group by the well-regarded Southern Poverty Law Center.

Alliance Defending Freedom also helped draft Mississippi’s anti-abortion law in 2018, according to Lever News, and is currently involved in a Supreme Court case that would allow businesses to discriminate against LGBTQ customers.

The New York Times goes a little further, noting that the Servant Organization has donated billions of dollars to “religious, political and educational organizations, including some that align with anti-abortion and right-wing political causes.”

So How Does The Servant Organization Make Their Money?

Obviously with $405 million and the fluidity to donate $50 million a year to Alliance Defending Freedom, and billions more than that, they need to be making money somehow, right? Most of the donors are anonymous, but we do know Hobby Lobby founder David Green is helping fund the ads, after he sat down for an interview with Glenn Beck. Hobby Lobby, under Green, won a victory in the Supreme Court in 2014 allowing them to deny some, or all birth control health care to employees on religious objections.

Are Evangelicals All On Board With He Gets Us?

Nope. A conservative talk show host named Erick Erickson spoke out against them, but not because of the connections to Alliance Defending Freedom or Hobby Lobby. “I honestly think the biggest issue is: You want to share Jesus with an unchurched crowd, that amount of money on TV ads is probably not the way to do it,” Erickson told the New York Times.

That’s one voice speaking out against them (mildly), but chances are given the heightened level of scrutiny that comes with two Super Bowl ads will, at the very least, spark a discussion about the money behind He Gets Us, and and where it’s all coming from.