Last year’s Super Bowl marked an interesting occasion. Where generally the commercials are either funny, stupid, or promoting the next big movie/car/whatever, the ad for He Gets Us turned heads by invoking Jesus on the biggest television stage on the planet. It got people talking from every different possible perspective on the ad itself as well as the organization and the people who were funding/running it. Super Bowl 2024 brought two more ads from He Gets Us, and a whole lot more controversy. If you missed it, give the ads a watch, and then let’s dig in to what this all could mean and why.
The first thing I noticed different from last year to this was the very obvious “inclusivity” that was not just present, but prevalent in these commercials. Last year, outside of a video that ham-fistedly told the story of Jesus being a refugee, the videos largely stayed away from being political or showing any sort of progressive agenda and strictly focused on Biblical concepts and ideas and worked toward building unity through faith in Christ across the board. The two ads that ran in this years’ Super Bowl gave a very distinct tone of agenda and promotion of DEI ideals. Let’s take a look at what changed…
First of all He Gets Us is now under new ownership, more or less. Last year the organization was being funded and effectively run by The Servant Foundation (aka The Signatry), which is a Christian donation-based organization that works with Focus on the Family and Alliance Defending Freedom (as well as a number of other organizations) to protect and preserve Christian principles in society. They’re a popular target for progressive and left-wing anti-Christian activists because they’re largely considered to be anti-LGBTQ (due to ADF’s defense of Colorado baker Jack Phillips and other similar situations across the country) and they have supported pro-life groups and legislation across the country. Hobby Lobby CEO David Green, who is similarly hated by the left, was also a big supporter of He Gets Us. But now there is slightly new management. He Gets Us is now fully being run by a new non-profit organization called Come Near. While it’s donors and much information about the organization are not currently public detail, it has been stated that David Green’s son is on the Board for Come Near, and the CEO is Ken Calwell, who previously served as Chief Marketing Officer for Compassion International, a Christian organization that works to serve children across the globe by helping provide food, water, shelter, and education and generally serve the underserved of the world.
All of that seems well and good. Sounds like the mission should stay true to what it had been a year ago. So, once again we have to ask, what changed? It looks like the primary shift is going to be in the approach He Gets Us takes with the videos going forward. There is a new production team in charge of making the videos, and while the former team had stayed away from being objectively political and focused solely on being Biblical, it appears the new team has no such qualms. As seems evident just from the social media profile of one of the leads for the team that developed the two Super Bowl ads.
What I find most interesting is that I’ve been following their videos and ever since the Super Bowl commercial a year ago. Up to this point there hasn’t been anything that would have led me to be concerned about the direction of the organization. They still seem to have a similar support based. Nothing I’ve found on Ken Calwell or Mart Green would give me any reason to believe there’s anything nefarious behind what seems to be a change of approach. I think this is strictly an issue with the people who are being given “creative freedom” to craft their own agendas out of what had previously been explicitly a Biblical message.
If nothing else, this highlights why it is of infinite importance to gatekeep and have total oversight of what sort of content and message is being put out in your name if you are running some sort of Christian organization (or honestly, any organization at all). Ahead of Sunday’s game He Gets Us set up an event and gave out free groceries to over 1,500 people. They still partner with The Bible App and a number of local organizations to get people connected to the Word and to Christian communities. I can’t tell that anything has necessarily changed outside of what was shown on screen during those ads.
I think I’m going to stick with what I had said last year and be on a wait and see tract with He Gets Us. I sincerely hope they are aimed in the right direction, as it appeared the were last year, and the current progressive push seen in the most recent videos is more a reflection of the people who made those videos and not a shift in the direction of He Gets Us itself. One thing that is clear from these videos, even non-religious types see that type of content as disingenuous and un-Christian. Hopefully the organization will do a better job going forward of overseeing what is being produced and ensuring it promotes the message of the Bible, not of the modern world.
Some links to check out that relate to this post 1 2 3
Who is behind 'He Gets Us' Jesus commercials? What to know about charity funding Super Bowl ad | Sporting News
Jesus Is Back in the Big Game With 'He Gets Us' (adweek.com)
‘He Gets Us’ ads put Michigan’s BrandHaven back in Super Bowl | Crain's Grand Rapids Business (crainsgrandrapids.com)