Sunday, February 07, 2010

The Tim Tebow Super Bowl ad: all the kerfuffle was about...

... this:


Update: As CR points out, the rest of the story is here. At the FOTF site, there are two Tebow spots, one in addition to the spot shown above — were both shown?

28 comments:

Sonja said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sonja said...

Much ado about nothing.

I was hoping the ad had shared more of the mom's choice to have Tim despite all opinions to the contrary.

Women's groups have problems w/this ad, yet none with the offensive ads with bikini-clad women and beer.

jmb said...

I found it shocking and outrageous in its attempt to...uh...something-or-other.

Colloquist said...

Shocking, I tell you. Shocking. What's next? Whole families getting all huggy-kissy on tv? Ohhhhhhh the horror.............

Death or Glory Toad said...

Gee. Thought it'd be more, um..., dramatic.

Aaron said...

As I said before, NOW, doesn't care about the content of the ad. They don't want the public masses to understand what an abortion actually involves. That's why they fight things such as showing the patient an ultrasound first.

Shaun Marksbury said...

Diabolical in its subtlety!

trogdor said...

If your position forces you to view the sentiment "you know, I'm kind of glad my son is alive" as divisive hate speech, that should be a hint that you're incredibly wrong.

Paula said...

So, it actually turns out the NOW/Angry Feminist kerfuffle did the ad a HUGE favor. Because the ad itself really failed to communicate what the media had reported that it was supposed to be communicating. Rather than giving any indication that Tebow's mother chose not to abort him when given that option, the ad merely gives the impression that she had a difficult pregnancy that almost ended (suggesting, perhaps, in a miscarriage.)

Not that there's anything wrong with that message, but if not for the kerfuffle, nobody would have had a clue what message the Tebow's were trying to get across. Thank you NOW and the MSM for spreading the pro-life message!

Susan said...

I agree with Paula. If I had not caught wind of the hoopla, I would not have had a CLUE as to what Tebow's mother was getting at. It's really barely scratching the surface of anything. Shakespeare's quote has it.

CR said...

I didn't think much of the commercial at the time, but someone pointed this out to me that I didn't think about at the time. The point was to get people's interest and lead them to the Focus on the Family website to get more on the Tebow story. I'll let Dan link it on a update if he wants.

Similar to the Go Daddy Commercial - as it was designed to lure and entice (more like ensnare) men to go to their website, the Tebow commercial was a teaser designed to pique the interest of watchers to go to the Focus on the Family website to read the whole Tebow story.

Unfortunately, you can't fit much in a 30 second spot. But if the humor used piqued the interest of one viewer to get more information, then I think that’s good.

In contrast, the Sean James and Al Joyner ad (which did not run during the Superbowl) was over a minute long (1:07 to be exact). They had a lot more time to explain their pathetic view.

Again, the Tebow commercial was not designed to tell the whole story (it would be impossible in 30 seconds), but to the pique the interest of watchers. Did it work? Only the Lord knows.

Unknown said...

Hmmm. Focus on the Family...Christian Group if I am not mistaken. Is it just me or was Someone missing? Wasn't Mrs. Tebow on a missions trip when faced with the "choice?"
Could they have played it as we are all created in God's image and killing babies is bad? Just wondering.

Unknown said...

Hmmm. Focus on the Family...Christian Group if I am not mistaken. Is it just me or was Someone missing? Wasn't Mrs. Tebow on a missions trip when faced with the "choice?"
Could they have played it as “we are all created in God's image and killing babies is bad!” Just wondering.

CR said...

Sap,

I think in part we can thank the kerfuffle because as many say, you couldn't really tell what message they were trying to get across.

But...I thought the commercial writers used some fancy strategry that would have piqued the interest of others. I mean if you think about it, some unsuspecting person is watching the commercial, uninformed about the controversy, get's a little chuckle but moved by Pam Tebow's story and intrigued and wondering how she almost lost her child. She clicks on FOTF and here's the rest of the story.

How many would have clicked on the FOTF website if Pam and Tim said in their 30 seconds: "abortion is wrong and it's murder." (true statement but would it have worked to lead people to FOTF website?)

It's possible that the abortion supporters knew exactly what FOTF was up to and knew they couldn't say much in the 30 second ad but wanted to prevent people from hearing the rest of the story.

Anonymous said...

So clearly what NOW is after, if for Tim to stop...being.

It's him just being alive they can't stand. He should have been abor..I mean murdered.

Maybe they should picket the NFL draft next year...

Rob said...

NOW and the pro-choice (read: pro-death) crowd talk about "choice" when it's clear that the only choice a woman should make is to kill her baby. If she chooses go full term, even in a difficult pregnancy, then it's clearly the wrong "choice" for the extremists. I saw the ad and have played it several times and still failed to hear the mention of whatever the pro-death gang was so frothed up about.

NoLongerBlind said...

Dan, to answer your question, yes, both ads played.

The first one (without Mom being blind-sided) was shown during the pre-game telecast.

Amazing how worked-up the pro-abort extremists got over that tactfully done - and relatively harmless! - message about the beauty of life. It reminds me of how the Jewish leaders became enraged and ground their teeth at Stephen.

But for the grace of God, there go I.....

GrammaMack said...

But of course it was still offensive! According to today's Toronto Star, "The Women's Media Center, which had objected to Focus on the Family advertising in the Super Bowl, said it was expecting a 'benign' ad but not the humour. But the group's president, Jehmu Greene, said the tackle showed an undercurrent of violence against women."

Unbelievable!

Brad Williams said...

Okay, at the risk of getting beaten, I thought the commercial was terrible. I fully agree with Paula, the NOW folks did this commercial a huge favor.

Tackling your momma? It just wasn't funny to me. The blind-side tackle thing has been done over and over so it isn't surprising. That, and it was his mother for crying out loud!

I didn't even get the message. It was like, "The pregnancy was difficult. I'm glad Tim's here."

Gah, perhaps I expected too much after the hype.

Anyway....WHO DAT???!!! :D

SolaMommy said...

I'm with Brad on this one.

jazzact13 said...

And Tebow's a quarterback. He doesn't tackle, he get's tackled.

Not a great ad, but not bad, either. But the line "You're not a tough as I am" was great.

Merrilee Stevenson said...

My favorite line is at the very end, when Pam says, "You're not nearly as tough as I am." What a statement! I'm sure that infuriated the NOW women, being such proponents of feminine gentility and modesty.

donsands said...

"..all the kerfuffle was about..."

kerfuffle?

The ad wasn't much really. Harmless and dull I thought.
But that's my taste in ads.

I thought the ads were rather weak this year. With a couple exceptions.
I saw that Erwin's ad made it. Weird.

Aaron said...

I liked the Green Police Audi commercial, personally. But I honestly was not watching the commercials.

I'm glad I didn't see the GoDaddy commericial. I must be the only man alive that is offended by attempts to get me to buy something by appealing to my sexuality. And not because I'm a Chgristian and oppose the message completely. It's because it's an attempt to use bait to get me to do something as if I were some unthinking animal who can't use logic to make basic purchase decisions.

threegirldad said...

Sir Aaron,

I promise you that you aren't alone on that score...

Chuck said...

I actually think the ad was an example of fantastic self-promotion by FOF. The Libs all know who they are, and most people know the Tebow story. By announcing the ad early, they got a huge amount of publicity and made the Pro-life cause front and center in a lot of places.

Then came the ad, and NOW was reduced to stupid comments about how Tim tackling Mommy was promoting violence and aggression against women. Plus, they plugged their website.

I'm usually not a big fan of Focus. A little too clanging cymbal at times, not to mention quite a bit of psychological mumbo-jumbo coming out of CO Springs. This was a great example, IMHO, of some pretty perceptive add people playing Pro-Choice folks like a violin.

BTW...I am a frequent commenter here (used to be called Associate to the Pastor) and I am trying to start blogging. So this is a shameless plug. Hope you don't mind Dan.
http:www.ceb1984.wordpress.com

DJP said...

Glad you explained. I am terrible at keeping commenters straight; Phil and Frank are masters of it.

Bob West said...

Great Blog! The truth about abortion is that: We are Fearfully and Wonderfully Made.

God Bless You, Bob West
http://westbob.blogspot.com/2010/01/fearfully-and-wonderfully-made.html