Catholic symbols cut out of the OTHER Jesus-related Super Bowl ad



Since Super Bowl LVIII last Sunday, many on social media and elsewhere have focused on the "He Gets Us" commercial, which seemed to put social justice symbolism on full display. However, the other Jesus-related Super Bowl commercial, the one promoting the Hallow prayer app, appears to have had some key Catholic symbols scrubbed from it, leading at least one Catholic media outlet to cry foul.

According to its website, Hallow claims to be the "#1 App for Christian & Catholic" prayer, meditation, and the Bible. Since its founding in 2018, Hallow has exploded in popularity, becoming the first faith-based app to break into the App Store's Top 10. Several high-profile Catholic clerics like Fr. Mike Schmitz and Bishop Robert Barron have contributed to it, as have some Catholic celebrities like actors Mark Wahlberg and Jonathan Roumie, who portrays Jesus on the hit series "The Chosen."

Wahlberg and Roumie teamed up to appear in Hallow's Super Bowl ad, and Hallow has shared its version of the commercial on several social media platforms. But that version differs from the ad that aired during the big game, and as the Catholic World Report noted, all of the major differences between the two versions relate to religious imagery.

In the opening scene of the commercial, Wahlberg dips his finger in holy water and walks into a Catholic church rich with stained-glass windows and familiar Christian icons. Behind the altar is a large image of Christ with the message "I AM WHO AM," a reference to the name of God given to Moses in the book of Exodus. However, the commercial that aired on TV narrowed the scope of the camera to such an extent that the Christ image is almost entirely cut out, leaving viewers in the dark about the full beauty of the church and the reason it was built in the first place.

Left: Original version | Right: Aired versionComposite screenshot of @amplifyunheard X video and Hallow: Prayer and Meditation YouTube video

In the next scene, a family is gathered around a table, saying grace before dinner. In the original version, each family member makes the sign of the Cross, a fixture of Catholic prayer. Though the aired version zeroes in on a young boy as he does his best to make the sign of the Cross, the unified family gesture is absent. Instead, the family is shown simply bowing their heads.

Main: Original version | Inset: Aired versionComposite screenshot of @amplifyunheard X video and Hallow: Prayer and Meditation YouTube video

One other notable difference between the ads relates to a cross of ashes that a priest marks on Roumie's forehead in anticipation of Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent, which kicked off just a few days after the Super Bowl. In the original version, the cross is pronounced and easily visible, while in the aired version, it is only faintly detectable.

Left: Original version | Right: Aired versionComposite screenshot of @amplifyunheard X video and Hallow: Prayer and Meditation YouTube video

The Catholic World Report blames Paramount and CBS for the changes, though when the changes were made and by whom are currently unclear. Neither CBS nor Hallow responded to Blaze News' request for comment.

The two different versions can be seen below:

Super Bowl commercial for the Hallow app, actor Mark Wahlberg promotes prayer as a beneficial practice.\n\n"For the first time ever, join over 100 million people in prayer during Super Bowl LVIII," a message said on the screen during the commercial.
— (@)

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Pastor's powerful alternative to controversial 'He Gets Us' Super Bowl ad goes viral: 'The true gospel resonates'



A 60-second ad ran during the Super Bowl depicting various individuals washing the feet of their supposed ideological, social, or professional antagonists.

The apparent thesis of the controversial "He Gets Us" campaign — itself an apparent effort to proselytize — is that Christianity today is "associated with hatred and oppression" but should instead be associated with "unconditional love, peace, and kindness."

While the ad prompted the usual outrage of those reflexively antipathetic to Christianity, it also generated controversy among many Christians. Some took issue with the theology behind the ad. Others felt uneasy about the campaign's potentially unintended conflation of love for sinners with tolerance of sin. A number of critics also figured that with tens of millions of dollars on the line and a global audience, the campaigners could have made a far more impactful pitch.

A Christian pastor in Northern Ireland cut through the noise with an alternative video this week that he figured would better convey the good news.

That video has since gone viral, overwhelming viewers with a clip show of striking redemption stories and an unmistakable message: "He saves us."

The Super Bowl ad

During the first quarter of Super Bowl LVIII, an ad entitled "Foot Washing" played, depicting various people having their feet washed by individuals contextually implied to be unlikely scrubbers. The 60-second ad is set to Jenn Mundia's cover of the INXS song "Never Tear Us Apart."

A police officer can be seen cleaning the feet of an apparent homeless man; a conservatively dressed female student washes the feet of a red-haired punk; a pro-life protester washes the feet of a young woman ostensibly on her way to or from murdering her unborn child; an oil worker pours water on the feet of an environmentalist; a suburban woman washes the feet of an illegal alien being dropped off in Chicago; and a priest washes the feet of what appears to be a roller-skating homosexual.

The ad concludes with the following text: "Jesus didn't teach hate. He washed feet. He gets us. All of us."

— (@)

According to Adweek, the "He Gets Us" campaign was initially kicked off by the Kansas-based nonprofit Servant Foundation in 2022 but was run this year by a newly formed charitable organization called Come Near, led by CEO Ken Calwell.

The "He Gets Us" campaign site claims that "whether it's hypocrisy and discrimination in the church, or scandals both real and perceived among religious leaders, or the polarization of our politics, many have relegated Jesus from the world's greatest love story to just another tactic used to intensify our deep cultural divisions."

"That is our agenda at He Gets Us: to move beyond the mess of our current cultural moment to a place where all of us are invited to rediscover the love story of Jesus," the campaign added.

AdAge noted that the "Foot Washing" ad was created by the Dallas-based agency Lerma/.

Jon Lee, brand leadership principal at the ad firm, told AdAge, "We hope that [this campaign] is an invitation for all people, no matter what they believe, to see the story of Jesus as belonging to them and invite them to explore it. In order to do that, some of our imagery is designed to be disruptive of our preconceived notions of who Jesus was."

A powerful alternative

Jamie Bambrick, an associate pastor of Hope Church, Craigavon, in Northern Ireland evidently figured the "He Gets Us" campaign missed the mark. Rather than simply complain, he fashioned his own alternative.

Bambrick noted in a Feb. 13 post on X, "A group known as 'He Gets Us' released an advert during the Super Bowl which, whilst perhaps well intentioned, failed to convey anything of the gospel to the hundreds of millions who saw it."

The pastor then provided his "take on what they should have done," which he later indicated took him "about an hour to make."

The alternate video runs through a striking list of high-profile converts to Christianity, some of whom had previously worked at cross-purposes with the faith and others who may have been been regarded as unlikely prospects. The video makes a point of stressing that their "former" identifiers, ostensibly associated with sin, are no more.

Among the individuals featured in the video are:

  • "Former witch" and celebrity tattoo artist Kat Von D, who revealed last year that following her renunciation of witchcraft and the occult, she had undergone baptism and accepted Christ;
  • "Dawkins' former right hand man," Josh Timonen, a former associate of celebrity God-denier Richard Dawkins who discovered that "[a]theism is a really useful worldview for weak men" and returned to the faith during the pandemic;
  • "Former jihadist" Mohamad Faridi, a former member of Iran's Islamic morality police who braved death threats to become a Christian;
  • "Former drag queen & prostitute" Kevin Whitt, who told a crowd gathered in 2019 for the Freedom March in Orlando, Florida, that in turning to Christ, he was able to overcome his gender dysphoria and leave behind a life of selling his body to strangers; and
  • "Former abortionist" Dr. John Bruchalski, who came to understand that "Jesus' mercy is the most wonderful medicine."

Bambrick also highlighted the conversion stories of a former transgender, a former porn star, a former New Age guru, a former lesbian activist, a former KKK member, and a former gang leader.

After running through the examples, the video blasts the following message: "Jesus doesn't just get us. He saves us. He transforms us. He cleanses us. He restores us. He forgives us. He heals us. He delivers us. He redeems us."

Bambrick's video concludes with a quote from 1 Corinthians 6:11, which says, "And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."

— (@)

The video has already received an overwhelmingly positive response online.

Conservative radio host Eric Metaxas responded on X, writing, "If THIS ad had aired during the Super Bowl yesterday, lives would have been changed."

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said, "This...is...beautiful. And it absolutely is the ad that should have run. It tells the Good News of God's love. With Truth, not modern politics."

Joel Berry, managing editor of the Babylon Bee, wrote, "In just a few hours, @j_bambrick's 'He Gets Us' ad he put together in a couple hours at home has more likes and shares than a multi-million dollar Super Bowl ad put together by the 'He Gets Us' marketing team. The true gospel resonates."

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Something felt off about the Jesus 'He Gets Us' Super Bowl ads



The ‘He Gets Us’ campaign is drawing controversy after purchasing two Super Bowl spots for commercials that they claim were meant to help everyone “rediscover the love story of Jesus.”

One of the ads portrayed people of different backgrounds washing the feet of others. In one scene, a police officer is seen washing the feet of a young black youth.

Allie Beth Stuckey believes something’s just not right with the ads.

“We want to cheer it on, we want to say, ‘Yes, at least Jesus is being proclaimed to the masses’ and ‘Wow, what a crazy opportunity that a Super Bowl ad is being dedicated to Jesus and the gospel,’” Stuckey says, adding, “But I don’t want to ignore, and I don’t want you to ignore, that nagging feeling that we all have that this is just not right.”

The slogan, “He Gets Us,” is an issue in itself.

“It makes Jesus about you, who you are, what you want, what you're trying to create,” Stuckey explains.

“In an effort to do that,” she continues, “they end up saying things that are not true. They have an ad that says, ‘Jesus was an immigrant, Jesus was a refugee,’ and it looks like they are comparing him to the immigrants who are illegally crossing over the border.”

For the ads to compare Jesus to us is to miss the point of who Jesus was and what he stood for.

“Instead what it affirms,” Stuckey says, “is, 'Yeah, it actually is all about you. Jesus came to affirm you; he came to be like you; he came to affirm and celebrate your identity, your status, your choices, and that’s it, end of story.'”

To hear more of Allie's analysis, watch the clip below.


Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?

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AOC is big mad over Jesus-centered Super Bowl ads that encourage Americans to love one another: 'Make fascism look benign'



Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) went viral on Sunday for criticizing Christian ads that aired during the Super Bowl.

What were the ads about?

The "He Gets Us" campaign spent $20 million to air two commercials during the Super Bowl.

One of the ads showed people from different background engaged in fights and arguments over politics, religion, and justice issues. "Jesus loved the people we hate," the ad says at the end.

The other ad showed various pictures of children displaying kindness and compassion. "Back in Jesus' day, children weren't regarded the same way they are today. This made his teachings around the value of being childlike countercultural," a description of the ad reads.

"Jesus didn't want us to act like adults," the ad declares.

What did AOC say?

Toward the end of the Super Bowl, Ocasio-Cortez condemned the advertisements and claimed that Jesus would not approve of spending such a large sum of money "to make fascism look benign."

"Something tells me Jesus would *not* spend millions of dollars on Super Bowl ads to make fascism look benign," she said.

\u201cSomething tells me Jesus would *not* spend millions of dollars on Super Bowl ads to make fascism look benign\u201d
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1676257301

The New York Democrat, however, did not explain how the advertisements whitewash fascism or how the commercials in any way approved of fascism or promoted it.

The tweet had received nearly 10 million views by Monday morning. While some people agreed with Ocasio-Cortez's sentiment — that spending money on Super Bowl ads is perhaps not the best use of money — many others observed that her response demonstrated a lack of self-awareness, thus making her the perfect audience for the ad.

Moreover, as controversial as the "He Gets Us" campaign has been in some circles, the mission of the organization is clear — and it has nothing to do with promoting whatever Ocasio-Cortez postured herself as opposing.

"We simply want everyone to understand the authentic Jesus as he’s depicted in the Bible — the Jesus of radical forgiveness, compassion, and love," the organization explains on its website.

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