Amid all the hoopla surrounding this Sunday’s Super Bowl, I can’t help but think back to the 2010 game. That’s the year Focus on the Family debuted its now-famous ad featuring Pam and Tim Tebow. It still gives me a chuckle to think how some groups branded our innocuous commercial “inappropriate,” “offensive” and “hate masquerading as love” – all without ever seeing it!
These allegations led to an intense media blitz leading up to the game that had me speaking with and appearing on what seemed an endless number of media outlets.
All that is why Time Magazine just named Focus on the Family’s commercial among “The 13 Most Controversial Super Bowl Ads Ever.”
Of course, when our commercial finally debuted, our critics were in for a major surprise. The ad lived up to its tagline “Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life.”
I just learned this morning that come Sunday Tim Tebow will once again be appearing in a Super Bowl commercial, this time for T-Mobile. It’s reportedly going to take a humorous turn. Good for Tim and wise of T-Mobile to feature such an upstanding young man.
Incidentally, Focus on the Family is planning to identify the “Top Five Most Family-Friendly Super Bowl XLVIII Ads” on Monday morning. Please check back here for the list.
Getting back to 2010, we didn’t learn about the most important “win” regarding our ad until days later. “Susan” eventually contacted us to share how our Super Bowl ad inspired her to think twice about going through the abortion she was considering. She eventually chose to have her baby, because God used our “controversial” ad to get her to consider the beauty of life. I had the thrill of meeting both mom and baby later that same year.
To God be the glory!
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