GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — It was a monumental night during the Super Bowl, not just within the 60 minutes of game but also for about 90-seconds across two commercial breaks.
A West Michigan company spent millions of dollars to spread their message to a massive national audience. That message: Jesus.
Religion during football is common. Players kneel and sometimes pray in groups; they point to the sky after a touchdown; then of course is the Hail Mary.
One place you generally would not find religion is the commercial break and that's for a reason.
"The NFL, rightly so is very protective about the content that it puts in the Super Bowl," said Jason Vanderground, President of Haven.
Haven is a creative marketing advertising firm based in Grand Haven.
You may have already seen the "He Gets Us" ads in the playoffs but the audience just got a lot bigger. Because, for the first time in a decade a religious oriented ad aired during the most watched event in the country.
Haven paid $20 million to run a 30 second ad in the first half and a 60 second ad in the second half.
The first ad aired in the commercial break after the first quarter.
"The first half is really gonna focus on like our kids, and just amazing things that our kids do that show us what the radical love of Jesus is like," Vanderground explained. "If we saw the best in kids in the first half, we're going to see kind of the worst in adults, you know, what adult behavior has looked like."
Haven has spent $100 million in total on "He Gets Us" but that's just a fraction of the billion dollars they plan to spend in three years. Though, they haven't said how they plan to spend it.
Most of the campaign donors have remained anonymous and people have questioned their intent.
CNN reported that while donors who support “He Gets Us” can choose to remain anonymous, Hobby Lobby co-founder David Green claims to be a big contributor to the campaign’s multi-million-dollar coffers.
Green discussed his involvement in the campaign, and the Super Bowl ad spots, during a November 2022 interviewwith conservative talk show host Glenn Beck.
“We are wanting to say — ‘we’ being a lot of different people — that he gets us,” Green said. “[Jesus] understands us. He loves who we hate. I think we have to let the public know and create a movement.”
"When people would hear, 'Oh, you're spending $100 million, they're like, that's a lot of money. And I think people are rightly skeptical," Vanderground conceded. "They've seen marketing be used in ways that manipulated and took advantage of people. We understand that. We actually think that's healthy to be skeptical about it."
“He Gets Us” is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that is managed by a company called “Signatry” which takes in the donations.
The Super Bowl commercials direct viewers to their website. When you go there, you can't buy anything. In fact, they'll give you the merchandise with only a promise in return that you'll forgive someone.
So what's the return on investment? What's the goal?
Vanderground insists they simply want to put Jesus in the middle of culture through a non-partisan, non-denominational movement with a start in West Michigan.
Fox 17 reached out to the NFL and Fox about their policies regarding religious ads and their approval process but haven't heard back.
