The Jesus Commercial Causing Another Uproar At Super Bowl LIX

Bud Light, Doritos, Taco Bell — and Jesus Christ. All of them may be associated with heaven (depending on your taste buds), but a more recent common denominator between all of them is Super Bowl LIX. If you weren't taking a bathroom break, looking up who was in the box with Taylor Swift, or researching the most disastrous Super Bowl halftime shows ever, you were probably glued to the commercials — the big game, after all, is like the Cannes Film Festival of ads.

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For the privilege of promoting a product during the February 9, 2025, game in New Orleans, the price tag was about $7 million for a 30-second spot, maybe even $8 million for a lucky few if the rumors are true. Lest you think there wasn't a demand to empty the coffers for over $200,000 a second, ad spaces were booked up by November 2024. 

One of those spaces went to the "He Gets Us" campaign, promoting Jesus. The 60-second commercial aired during the first half of the Super Bowl and featured various images of people in times of need — some alone, others receiving help (such as at a football game). The visuals were accompanied by the unmistakable voice of Johnny Cash, slowly singing Depeche Mode's 1989 song "Personal Jesus." It ended with the tagline: "He Gets Us. All Of Us." While that may be true, the reverse evidently is not — because there were a lot of people who didn't get any part of the ad, who was behind it, and what it was doing in the Super Bowl. 

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Jesus ads: causing comments since 2023

Football fans were first exposed to the Jesus Super Bowl ads in 2023 when not one but two commercials aired during the big game. The same happened in 2024 at Super Bowl LVIII, where a second set of Jesus ads caused an uproar. And even though there was only one ad promoting the religious deity during Super Bowl LIX in 2025, the response was no less feverish.

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After the first ads in 2023, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, a comment that resonated with many. "Something tells me Jesus would *not* spend millions of dollars on Super Bowl ads to make fascism look benign," she wrote. It then came to light that the people behind the ad were The Servant Foundation, which also happened to be a huge done — contributing millions — to legal funds in support of anti-LGBTQ legislation. Although The Servant Foundation kept its sponsors private, Hobby Lobby co-founder David Green revealed he was a contributor. Hobby Lobby is known for selling silk flowers, cheap hot glue, and for a Supreme Court case that now allows companies to use religion as a reason to deny coverage for contraception. 

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The "He Gets Us" campaign has since changed hands and is now run by Come Near, a nonprofit organization that took over in 2024. They're responsible for the 2025 Super Bowl ad, which has received a lukewarm response. "'He Gets Us' spends millions on these commercials," wrote one Christian X user. "How about feed people instead."

The Jesus ad isn't Jesus enough, according to some

After seeing the "He Gets Us" commercial about Jesus during the Super Bowl LIX game on February 9, 2025, people had opinions. In addition to people questioning the amount of cash spent purchasing the ad spots, some argued that the money would have been better spent helping those in need instead of just picturing them. They also questioned whether or not Jesus himself would have approved — citing more things people get wrong about Jesus.

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New York Times best-selling author Allie Beth Stuckey shared on X, "I am for any campaign that brings people to the gospel, but, again, 'He Gets Us' misses the mark. There is nothing at all in their ads about who Christ is or why we need Him. It's not even remotely implied. If anything, an unbeliever walks away feeling affirmed that Jesus is, at most, his buddy who exists to cheer him on." (See: photo in ad of a man being lifted by a cheering group.)

Another X user had a more succinct take: "I don't think 'He Gets Us' gets Jesus."

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