The high holy days of advertising are just around the corner. Two Sundays from now, consumer goods behemoths will spend $6 million to $7 million during the Super Bowl for 30 seconds’ worth of America’s attention to hawk beer, snacks, cars, movies, and Jesus. And this marketing of the Messiah is not just a one-and-done deal. It is part of a billion-dollar strategy to sell Jesus to the American consumer.
Which raises the question, who exactly is the target audience of this marketing blitz? But first, a little background.
The group behind the $20 million buy of Super Bowl Jesus ads is The Servant Organization (dba “The Signatry”), an anodyne and until recently anonymous group. Last November, David Green, the billionaire co-founder of Hobby Lobby, admitted to Glenn Beck that his family was helping fund the ads, along with other like-minded families.
To what end? The Religious News Service (RNS) sheds some light. They report,
“For the past 10 months, the “He Gets Us” ads have shown up on billboards, YouTube channels, and television screens — most recently during NFL playoff games — across the country, all spreading the message that Jesus understands the human condition.”
But that leaves unanswered why The Signatry is doing this. And the viewer is wise to be suspicious. Especially as the group has advertising ambitions beyond the Super Bowl. The $20 million is only a fraction of a planned $1 billion campaign over the next three years.
Christian activism in America rarely seems to have much to do with Jesus. Religious zealots—at least the noisy ones—spend more time pointing out the people to hate and vote for than they do spreading the Gospels.
Adding to the skepticism is that Green is the CEO of Hobby Lobby, which successfully lobbied the Supreme Court to put his religious beliefs over the welfare of the company’s employees. The conservative court ruled that for-profit corporations with sincerely held religious beliefs could ignore Obamacare’s mandatory, free contraception provision. (Who knew that companies could be religious?)
However, whether through genuine compassion or as a smoke screen to hide social terrorism, The Signatry presents an inclusive face to the world. The picture on their home page is of two Black men, one holding a Black girl. The implication is strongly pro-gay marriage, with a nod to anti-racism. Or perhaps it is meant to be three generations of the same family. Absent adult women, it is hard to tell.
The rest of their website is free of the normal fundamentalist religious polemics against anyone outside the bi-gender, heteronormative social model.
However, there is some disturbing language. The organization says its mission is to partner with “donors, advisors, and nonprofits to turn resources into impact for the Kingdom” and that “we are leading the way with innovative and exciting solutions to reach the world with God’s generosity.”
Perhaps to the insider, those words clearly state the nature of the mission. However, to the outsider, it is unclear if this means that the organization will honor biblical Jesus, or if it aims to promote the contemporary, hateful, conservative evangelical Jesus. (If anyone knows more, I welcome them to explain in the comments.)
Bearing both those possibilities in mind, let’s ask again, who exactly is the target audience of this marketing blitz? Maybe the answer can be found by studying the other Super Bowl advertisers. When Budweiser advertises, is it trying to convince non-drinkers to drink beer? Is it trying to switch beer drinkers to Budweiser? Is it reassuring Bud drinkers that they have made the right choice so they will stick with the brand? Or is their aim some combination of all three?
Will ads that say “Jesus gets us” convince atheists to become religious? Are they intended to switch non-Christian believers to Christianity? Or are they directed at current Christians to deepen their faith and make them less likely to bolt?
I do not know.
I suppose that some atheists, especially those who left Christianity because of the shitty attitude of conservative Christians, may be swayed by what appears to be a return to the roots of the faith. But how many? As for attracting people of other faiths, 6% of Americans profess to follow another brand of religion. Is this group large enough to justify spending a speculative $1 billion to get some to convert?
Or is this campaign focused on wavering Christians who like Jesus’ message but hate the institutional bigotry of some denominations? The changing religious demographics of America support the last position.
In 1970, 90% of Americans said they were Christian. In 2020, the number had declined to 64%. Pew Research modeling predicts four future scenarios—all showing a decline in Christianity. The best case is that by 2070, 54% will claim to be Christian. In the worst case, the number is a mere 35%—grim news for people whose power and income rely on fleecing the flock.
Will The Signatry’s campaign work? If it aims to proselytize, I doubt it. Once people have quit smoking for a while, they do not usually start again. If, on the other hand, they aim to promote charitable giving in the name of the biblical Christ, they may have some success.
However, looking at how Christianity—especially the well-funded kind backed by zealots with an agenda—has operated over the last 100 years in America, the smart money would bet this is a Trojan Horse. Even the well-intentioned person of faith often succumbs to the howling of the mob. Especially if they attend mega-churches packed with ululating congregations, whipped into a righteous frenzy by a money-mad sociopath bent on buying a bigger house.
To all the people of modest faith who try to live charitable lives as your savior wanted, I wish you well. And I hope that you stay true to your values. Especially if this “He gets us” campaign is a duplicitous cover for the usual sanctimonious bigotry of the rapine opportunist. Because God knows America should not be even more religiously execrable than it is already.