Christian Ads Change Course
Students can analyze how the Christian group He Gets Us has changed its ad campaigns. Super Bowl ads since 2023 reflect the social-political climate of the time, and this new one addresses criticism of previous years’ ads. The group describes its purpose as, “a campaign that invites all people to consider Jesus and why he matters.”
Critics from the political left called the ads hollow and question the expense of the ads, which they say is counter to Jesus’s teachings. Liberals call out hypocrisy of including LGBT+ people while funding anti-LGBT+ programs. Conservatives call ad before this year too “woke” and simplistic.
In response, we see a move from interpersonal strife to personal struggles. Today, the website is organized around a “Journey” we select to dig deeper: I want more, I have questions, I can’t do it all, and I want to be me. With all starting with “I,” the focus is clearly on ourselves.
In addition to the website, the 2026 Super Bowl ad, “Is There More to Life Than More?” seems squarely aligned with Jesus’s teachings about material restraint and fulfilment. It’s the first of the series that includes dialog throughout—appropriately so for the focus on overconsumption. The video is noisy and chaotic until the end, when we see a young woman hiking and the text, “There’s more to life than more,” and “What if Jesus shows us how to find it?”
The ad’s creative officer explained the current campaign: “‘Hey, he gets you where you’re at specifically, and what you’re going through in your life.” A summary of previous ads is below.
2023: “Love Your Enemies.” A black-and-white series of stills shows people in conflict to the soundtrack, “Human,” by Rag'n'Bone Man. The only text is at the end, “Jesus loved the people we hate,” and then the tagline, “He gets us. All of us.”
2024: “Foot Washing.” Again a series of stills, this time in color, show people we don’t expect to see together, no less washing each other’s feet. The soundtrack is INXS’s “Never Tear Us Apart,” and the end text is “Jesus didn’t teach hate,” and “He washed feet.”
2025: “What Is Greatness?” These stills show people in despair, comforting each other, and celebrating. To Johnny Cash’s “Personal Jesus,” the ad ends with the text, “Jesus showed us what greatness really is.” This one challenges us to consider what greatness means—less about individual achievement and more about humility and service.