"He Gets Us" ad campaign makes third Super Bowl appearance

The campaign once again shelled out millions of dollars to air an evangelical outreach ad on Sunday during the NFL’s Super Bowl LIX. The ad centered around how Christ’s definition of greatness differs from that of the world, according to the campaign’s website. The nonprofit Come Near acquired the project last year from the previous managing group, the Servant Foundation. The campaign described itself as offering a new way to explore the story of Jesus’ life and teachings. “He Gets Us” aimed to supersede the cultural quagmire and welcome anyone to discover the story of Jesus, according to the group’s FAQ page.

Previous “He Gets Us” ads attempted to make Christ relatable to a wider audience than traditional Christians. The 2025 campaign flipped through images showing a wide range of human experiences ranging from a joyous man carried by a crowd to a woman consoling a crying man in a supermarket aisle. The ad also showed an image of a man wearing a John 3:16 hat hugging another man at what appeared to be a gay pride event. The 60-second ad ran with a blues rendition of Depeche Mode’s 1990 song “Personal Jesus.”

Wasn’t there some controversy surrounding this ad? Some Christian leaders criticized the ad for, in their view, failing to share the authentic gospel and only emphasizing cherry-picked attributes of Christ. New York Times bestselling author and conservative commentator Allie Beth Stuckey accused the latest “He Gets Us” ad of missing the mark. The campaign’s ads never even mention or even imply who Christ is or why humans need him, she wrote Sunday night. The ad dupes unbelievers into thinking that Jesus is just a pal and cheerleader, she added. Stuckey went on to say that she prayed God would continue working in unbelieving hearts, even through imperfect means.

Christian actor and director Kevin Sorbo, widely known for his role as atheist Professor Jeffrey Radisson in the 2014 movie God’s Not Dead, also slammed the campaign. The “He Gets Us” commercials are not made by Christians, he wrote Sunday night. Other users online argued that the group should have used the millions of dollars for helping the poor and feeding the homeless instead of on a Super Bowl ad.

Were there other expressions of faith at the Super Bowl Sunday night? Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni credited Christ Jesus with his team’s win. God blessed the Eagles with talent and he needs to be thanked first, Sirianni said at the beginning of a post-game televised interview.

Dig deeper: Read Joe Rigney’s opinion on the 2024 He Gets Us Super Bowl commercial.