MoveOn.org couldn’t do it. PETA couldn’t do it. But Focus on the Family has been given a green light to air a commercial during the Super Bowl.
Focus on the Family is known for taking a pro-life stance and valuing marriage as an institution for opposite-sex couples.
…
Its Super Bowl commercial is not polarizing and does not take an “anti” stance against any issue, according to a person familiar with the situation. The organization’s ad will feature college football star Tim Tebow and his mother, Pam, sharing a personal story centered on the theme of “Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life,” according to a news release from Focus on the Family.
So why is this commercial allowed to get on the air when left-wing groups’ ads were blocked?
Isn’t this commercial pushing a pro-life (i.e. political) agenda?
Yes, but in order to pass the filters, it will likely have to be so un-controversial that it won’t even mention Jesus or Christianity or abortion or “pro-life” or any of the hot button words that would get anyone to notice it. Certainly, FotF will stay away from any of their usual buzzwords (i.e. homosexuality, gays, homogays, etc).
If a website is mentioned, I doubt it’ll lead to Focus on the Family; instead, it’ll point to something vague and inconspicuous like CelebrateFamily.com. It’s a message that’ll go over the heads of most of the millions of viewers.
If it does play on the key words, that just gives liberal groups ammo to use the next time they want to air a Super Bowl commercial. CBS will have to answer for their decision.
Consider this as well: What is the FotF commercial was followed by a Doritos commercial featuring a farting monkey? We’d forget all about the pro-life commercial…
I’m actually in favor of this commercial airing.
Focus on the Family is already on a downward spiral in terms of fundraising — they laid off 8% of their staff just a few months ago — but they still want to pay at least $2,500,000 for a 30-second commercial?
Granted the money for the ad is coming from “unnamed individuals” specifically for this purpose, I suspect that’s still a hard sell to make when your stances are becoming unpopular with each generation. A bland Super Bowl ad hardly seems worth the money, especially when it could be going to so many other places where it could make a real difference.
So, let them do it. Give them enough rope.
More money spent on an innocuous commercial means less money spent on gay-bashing.
Ideally, all the hype for this ad will come before the commercial airs and Focus on the Family will have little to show for it the day after.
(Thanks to Kate for the link)