Who Paid For Super Bowl 2024's Controversial 'He Gets Us' Jesus Commercial?
Faith was proudly on display at Super Bowl LVIII. Mark Wahlberg's Hallow commercial advertised a Catholic prayer app, and another ad campaign promoted the Church of Scientology. But no religion-centric ad made a bigger splash than the He Gets Us ad campaign, which included a 60-second TV spot titled "Foot Washing" in the first half and a 15-second commercial titled "Who Is My Neighbor?" in the second half. The 75 seconds of advertising cost an estimated $17.5 million. So who bankrolled the commercials, and who are they intended to serve?
Campaign spokesman Greg Miller told Rolling Stone that the ads aim to "emphasize loving our neighbors like Jesus did, encouraging people to respect and serve each other." The Super Bowl, he continued, provided the campaign with a huge amount of outreach.
Critics have pointed out that the beliefs of the financiers tend to contradict Jesus' teachings as put forth in the ads. The He Gets Us commercials were partially funded by David Green, whose billionaire family owns the craft supply chain Hobby Lobby. The company previously went to the Supreme Court to advocate for a business' right to deny birth control coverage among its employees, claiming "sincere religious objections" in the case. Hobby Lobby also fought to deny a transgender employee access to the women's restroom in one of its stores.
While the Green family pays for a sizable piece of the He Gets Us pie, other donors have chosen to stay anonymous.
He Gets Us has ties to conservative Christian orgs
He Gets Us also aired an ad at last year's Super Bowl, where it was funded by the Kansas-based charity the Servant Foundation, which itself is a financial backer of Alliance Defending Freedom. ADF is a legal group that is listed as an anti-LGBTQ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, and it also aims to limit abortion access.
The Servant Foundation is no longer part of He Gets Us, but the campaign still has ties to the same conservative Christian organizations. The Green family is involved with the National Christian Foundation, which continues to fund ADF. He Gets Us is now officially under the stewardship of the nonprofit Come Near, on which David Green's son, Mart, sits on the board.
Regardless of the money trail behind He Gets Us, spectators who saw the ads are dubious that they should even exist. "Do you really think Jesus would spend 8 digits on an ad for himself?" wondered u/beardtamer. "Or do you think he would be buying up and canceling medical debt, or feeding the needy, or housing the poor? You could buy an entire low income neighborhood for that amount. It just comes off as incredibly out of touch to me." Another user concurred, adding, "If you spend a million dollars to convert people instead of helping the homeless, you read the wrong book."