Ladies and gentlemen, we now know why CBS decided to air the Tim Tebow "Focus on the Family" Super Bowl ad: there really wasn't that much controversy with it at all. Abortion was never mentioned directly through the 32-second spot; instead the main focus of the ad was Pam Tebow talking about her difficult pregnancy and how happy she was now that Tim was grown-up and successful.
Did the ad have a pro-life message? Certainly so, but it also wan't necessarily trying to shove a political agenda down your throat.
The Tim Tebow ad stirred up a great deal of controversy before the big game, mainly because other Super Bowl ads have traditionally focused on alcohol and other superficial products.
What did you think of the Tim Tebow Super Bowl ad? Check out the video below and let me know your thoughts with a comment.
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Comments
You have to admit, FoF had an ingenious plan - use the controversy to put the word abortion into the ad, with out ever having to say it.
youtube.com/watch?v=8K6Qv9hFl5Q
It was a wonderful, sensitive, caring ad. We need more uplifting and positive ads like this. Thanks for showing it!
A good clean ad with a message of hope for those who may be undecided about pregnancy during difficult times. Thanks for airing this message.
We are writing during the halftime show. We watched for the ad very carefully as we were very eager to see it for ourselves. BUT IT NEVER CAME ON! HOWEVER, there were a couple of minutes of some sort of technical problem in which nothing could be seen...we can't help but wonder if there was some sort of purposeful interference to specifically prevent the ad from being viewed in our area. We are in Clarksville, Tennessee and wonder whether anyone else in Middle Tennessee encountered this problem. Thank you for making the ad available here. We think it was beautifully and tastefully done.
An add someone like Rick Warren would be proud of. Don't say anything controversial and leave without having touched anyone's conscience. Imagine soft-selling the Jewish holocost of 6 million. Here there's over 50 million and we're too afraid to say anything more than "I still worry about my son today?" Ya, we all worry about or son's today.... So, what does that have to do with the killing of over 50,000,000 innocent babies???? Nothning....
It was a wonderful, warm, and loving ad, just like the kind of organization FoF is. The recent, ridiculous controversy swirling over something unseen simply highlights the blatant and strident anti-Christian bias that often permeates groups who trumpet 'tolerance', but refuse to tolerate anyone THEY deem as intolerant! "O wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!" (From “To a Louse,” by Robert Burns).
New grandparents, the ad aired here in murfreesboro, so if you had interference, it must have been localized to your area.
Focus on the Family is an awful, anti-choice organization who spread fear and hate. They have no place airing ads promoting their conservative agenda.
To M in Murfreesboro, thank you so much for letting us know!
I agree with Katie, women should have a choice and people need to stop pushing their agendas. we live in a free country and some times people really don't understand what that means, so listen to it again... we live in a free country. That means everyone has a choice and that's a very fragile and beautiful thing.
This kid is not a miracle baby just because she decided not to have an abortion. That's a choice, not a miracle.
The Focus on the Family ad did come across as "warm and caring" as some of the comments here have said. That's because the subject matter - advocacy against abortion and a woman's right to make decisions about her own body - was left to insidious subtext instead of talked about openly and honestly.
A note to Dave, who previously commented: if you're going to compare abortion to the killing of Jews during WWII, please at the very least, learn how to spell "Holocaust." And to this comparison I say, how many people who claim to be "pro-life" are also pro-war, pro-death penalty, and anti-national health care? Certain lives are considered more valuable to pro-lifers, not least of which a star NFL player.
Great commercial! I appreciate a commercial that is positive and supports the family. I also know that she chose NOT to abort her unborn child due to taking a drug that could have caused damage to the baby. I thought it was presented well and not pushy for pro life. I have a distant cousin that decided to abort her unborn child because tests said the baby had Down's syndrome.It was a girl and nothing was wrong with her. Tim Tebow's mother made the right choice.
It just goes to show that when you through a lot of mud at some one you lose a lot of ground and you end up looking dirty. Nice job Focus on the Family, and to all the other ads in response to the F on F ad. You might want to check yourself cause you used a lot of mud. You might be digging a hole.
I'd rather see something wholesome like a Mom talking about the gift of a child than have to shield my 5 year old's eyes from a girl ripping her clothes off to be a "Go Daddy" girl and watch a bunch of morons parade around in their underwear.
Thanks Larry!
I think some people believe that being pro-choice means that you hope women will choose to have an abortion. It doesn't. It means you support A WOMAN'S RIGHT TO CHOOSE. She may choose to have an abortion or she may choose not to, but everyone deserves that choice. It's an incredibly difficult choice with major ramifications either way, but we should all support her right to choose.
You're right on the mark, Katie. It's so important to give choice and many people have exercised their right to not choose abortion while others have chosen to have one, but isn't it awesome that we actually get to choose what we want for ourselves? In the end these ads are dangerous because they are pushing something that is personal choice and who's to say that their opinion of pro-life is any better then someone of pro-choice? Or vice versa for that matter.
People should really stop pushing us into a situation where our freedoms and choices will be made for us and while you may not like pro-choice if you fight against it you'll quickly find that many other choices will be taken from you as well, including freedoms you want.
Wonderful ad! Uplifting, how could it offend anyone?
Great commercial. Praise God for convictions. May God use this for His glory. May He protect this ministry!
Thank you for doing this at a time with such a large audience. A soft message, very tastefully done.
The ad was sweet -- not controversial at all. I really don't understand the folks who got so nasty over this ad airing (and I've heard a LOT of discussion). Was it just because the ad was produced by Focus on the Family? Sorry, Katie...nothing "anti-choice...spreading fear and hate" in this ad.
Whether or not it was a well-veiled message, I am no longer a CBS viewer. Its a sickening waste of money that could have been spent on improving women's lives. Focus on your own damn family, CBS. Glad that lady had a CHOICE.
KJ, yes, it was because the ad is for Focus on the Family, who have a very specific agenda. I don't think the ad was especially offensive in itself, just that the organization that created it is incredibly conservative and doesn't allow other points of view to be heard. I don't think that's okay, and I also don't think letting women know they have a right to choose is okay either. In that way, they spread fear and hate.
The Ad is great! They didn't mention abortion...She choose LIFE..and that is what every unborn baby needs, the chance of LIFE.
ABORTION IS NOT AN OPTION...
AS, why is abortion not an option?
And not mentioning the word "abortion" doesn't mean that the ad wasn't about it, or that it wasn't obvious the message was "don't have an abortion."
Tim Tebow and his mom Rocks! For loving God, for loving and chosing Life!!!
Focus on the Family is a christian organization who gives indiduals God News, News of salvation, because there is a better life..through Jesus Christ!
Kate take a look at the opposing side for a minute, These claims of a hidden agenda and the spreading of hate. You claims are biased and based on a preconceived notions. This add is only being discussed because of another organization that has hidden agendas and is the organization which is spreading hate. If you eliminate the one then you must eliminate the other. which i don't think you would enjoy if women's right no longer had a voice. your arguing semantics are all wrong.
This ad is not offensive. It is uplifting and it is nice to see a positive commercial. No it's not about beer, go daddy, etc., but it is a good commercial. Way to go Focus on the Family. I think it is time we show great American values and Tim Tebow's mom is a great role model.
It’s amazing how many people “react” to the rights of the mother to have an abortion and forgets the baby. Yes, it is a baby! Not a blob of tissue. What about the rights of the child, as a result of the mother’s choice? Yes, the mother’s choice; resulting in her being pregnant. If she does not want to be a mother, then she has some choices to make prior to getting pregnant!
Do you even see the hypocrisy of your comments? She clearly exercised her right to choose. She could have, in her situation, chosen to abort. She didn't, and her choice has turned out to be a gift to all of us that have enjoyed Tim's success. Celebrating life is not a conservative or liberal issue. If you're threatened by that ad, you've got serious problems.
choice...why do babies not have a choice....why is it only the mother who chooses whether they live or die?????
How in the world could anyone have been offended by that ad? Obviously all parents feel that way about their children. Ridiculous.....
J, what other organization are you referring to?
Gary, what about the father? Doesn't he have anything to do with the pregnancy? What is the woman was raped? What kind of choice is that?
Teresa, I agree with you that celebrating life is neither a conservative nor a liberal issue. Focus on the Family, as an anti-choice organization, is conservative.
Katie, the word abortion was not mentioned because it was not necesary. Pam Tebow choose LIFE and that is what is all about.
Abortion is not an OPTION because we are talking about the right of life of a little baby. There are two options for a woman who is having an undesired pregnancy: give the baby for ADOPTION, or carry the consequences of her actions: having the baby and raising that baby.
winn - babies don't decide they want to be born or not born, parents decide if they want children or not. having a baby is a completely selfish act by the parents, they want children so they have them, the baby doesn't have a choice.
and while we're on choices, why would you automatically think that the baby would choose to be born? you don't know what they want you only know what YOU want, so take a step down from your soap box because you're preaching an unknown.
I agree, the ad was great! Not like many projected, in this last week, before anyone saw it. ("Hoof-in-Mouth") Now what are they going to saw about it? Not much to say!
AS, there are other options if you're open minded and respectful. And why is it only the woman's "responsibility" to
"carry the consequences of her actions"? Where is the father in all this? And again, what if she was raped?
"Pam Tebow choose LIFE and that is what is all about."
That's right... she CHOSE life. that's what pro-choice is, it's the right to choose. she has the right to have the child or not have the child and she chose to have the child.
Pro lifers need to realize that pro choice doesn't mean we all want to go out and have abortions, it's about a choice. Pam lives in a free country where she has the right to make a choice and she exercised that right. I may not agree with her ad, and quite frankly I don't think airing propaganda on the super bowl is proper, but I can exercise MY right and turn the channel.
Pro-lifers don't care if the woman was raped, Katie. Pro-lifers think the baby should be born anyway. What an awesome life for that woman and that child huh? IMO, pro-lifers hate women and think they are nothing more then a vessel for breeding babies.
Many woman make wrong choices because of a lack of infomartion, they feel afraid, lonley, desperate, whatever was the way they got pregnant. Many women are married, many are single. I have seen those who choose abortion, all the grieve and sorrow they have in their lifes, they wonder every year how that baby would be. I have seen those who choose life how their lifes changed and how blessed they are with that child.
Cindy, I can see that you don't have children. You don't have any idea of what it means to be blessed with a precios child. I am sorry for you. But I am not here to change anybody way of thinking. Yes I AM A PROLIFE PERSON because I choose LIFE!
Thanks for the support, Cindy. Maybe next year they should air an ad showing a child who wasn't aborted and whose life (and/or whose mother's life) isn't exactly peachy? Ha!
I agree, the father is very much a part of the pregnancy. Their time together, they both realize what could happen. She could get pregnant, if they don't plan otherwise, i.e. the pill.
If you look at statistics, the percentage is very low of pregnancies from rapes. However, who is still voting for the child even in this case. This is still a child!
AS, being able to CHOOSE life means having a CHOICE. Being pro-choice doesn't mean you'll necessarily have an abortion, or hope others will, it simply means you support a woman's right to choose. It's her body and her life.
"Yes, it is a baby! Not a blob of tissue"
Actually Gary it is a blob of tissue. in the first 3 days it's called a zygote which is a blob of tissue. Then it's a blob of tissues called a blastocyst when it's attached to the uterus. it may form a baby at some point, but it is actually, literally a blob of tissues.
To the individual who want to argue the reason for life think about this. In all to many universities individuals question the existence of a God. Yet when a tragedy strikes the question is often blamed to that God. Why does God let this happen? doesn't he care? Why Does he let so many Die? One day when we all have to face our individual choices we may choose to ask that question Directly. I wonder if his answer will be... " I sent those who could solve your heath care problems, I sent those who could fix your economy, I sent those who could save the poor, you killed them before they had a chance." Don't hate just think about it.
"If you look at statistics, the percentage is very low of pregnancies from rapes. However, who is still voting for the child even in this case. This is still a child!"
And who's standing up for the mother Gary?
or how about the serious psychological affects it'll have on the child being a product of rape?
If I was a product of rape I would not want to be born, that's just awful. I wouldn't want to live through that or know that my mother went through that and every time she looks at me she's reminded of the worst experience a woman can ever have.
It's not about the right to choose, because currently we all have the right to choose. its about who is God and who is not. I say let God control who comes into existence not humanity.
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