Although Super Bowl viewers were confronted with advertisements for a variety of products on Sunday night, two spots promoted a unique message.
Put out by an organization called He Gets Us, the ads focused on Jesus Christ. Yet while they may have been comforting to many, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made clear that she wasn’t impressed.
AOC links Jesus ad with “fascism”
As Fox News reported, Ocasio-Cortez put out a tweet on Monday in which she asserted that the ads “make fascism look benign.”
Something tells me Jesus would *not* spend millions of dollars on Super Bowl ads to make fascism look benign
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 13, 2023
Fox News pointed out that Ocasio-Cortez did not specify which of the two Jesus-themed ads she was complaining about. The first featured images of children showing kindness to one another and concluded with the line, “Jesus didn’t want us to act like adults.”
Jesus didn’t want us to act like adults. #HeGetsUshttps://t.co/83st2vLhmy pic.twitter.com/ScC6wmOj7S
— HeGetsUs (@HeGetsUs) February 13, 2023
Spokesperson: Christ offers “sacrificial love”
The second ad showed a montage of images in which people angrily confronted each other before the caption “Jesus loved the people we hate” appeared on screen.
Jesus loved the people we hate. #HeGetsUs https://t.co/NcJdEoyCaJ pic.twitter.com/TFlxxCLBM7
— HeGetsUs (@HeGetsUs) February 13, 2023
Jason Vanderground serves as a spokesperson for He Gets Us, which is partly funded by Hobby Lobby, and he told Fox News that both ads were aimed at changing the perception many have of Christ.
“Our research shows that many people’s only exposure to Jesus is through Christians who reflect him imperfectly, and too often in ways that create a distorted or incomplete picture of his radical compassion and love for others,” Vanderground explained.
Congresswoman accused of having “jumped the shark”
“What could possibly be louder and more powerful than hate? Love can,” Vanderground continued, adding, “But not just any love. Confounding love. Unconditional love. Sacrificial love. The love we see in Jesus.”
“What if we tried to love our enemies the way Jesus loved his?” the spokesperson asked. “How would it change the tenor of our conflicts and our conversations?”
Ocasio-Cortez’s tweet was met with criticism from some Twitter users, including former Daily Caller editor Eric Owens, who accused her of having “jumped the shark.”
That’s your take from a great Super Bowl ad reminding us of the truth, universal to all religions and all wisdom, that hate is bad?
Are you serious?
You have jumped the shark. Presumably, an intern is writing your tweets while you wear a fancy dress to a Super Bowl ball.
— Eric Owens (@ericowensdc) February 13, 2023