Pro-Life Super Bowl Advertising

People who know me know that I know next to nothing about sports. I just never got the sports bug. (Except for rodeo.)

But even a person as sports-benighted as myself is aware that Super Bowl ads are the pinnacle of television advertising, that they can cost millions of dollars, and that they can create notable ripples in the culture.

Let’s hope this one does:

Focus on the Family will broadcast the first Super Bowl ad in its history February 7 during CBS Sports’ coverage of the game at Dolphin Stadium in South Florida.

The 30-second spot from the international family-help organization will feature college football star Tim Tebow and his mother, Pam. They will share a personal story centered on the theme of “Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life.” . . .

The Tebows said they agreed to appear in the commercial because the issue of life is one they feel very strongly about.

According to other news accounts,:

The Associated Press reported this week that the ad’s theme will be “Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life,” with Pam Tebow sharing the story of her difficult 1987 pregnancy—instead of getting an abortion she decided to give birth to Tebow, the now-famous quarterback who went on to become a Heisman Trophy winner, leading the Gators to two BCS wins.

So this has a bunch of people on the pro-abortion side of the aisle atwitter, and according to Reuters (big surprise they’d make the pro-aborts the lens through which to view the story):

U.S. women’s groups are urging television broadcaster CBS not to air an ad during next month’s Super Bowl football championship final because they say it has a strident anti-abortion rights message. . . .

The Women’s Media Center and over 30 other liberal and women’s advocacy groups sent a letter to CBS, the TV network to air the Super Bowl on Feb. 7, saying: “... we urge you to immediately cancel this ad and refuse any other advertisement promoting Focus on the Family’s agenda.”

“We are calling on CBS to stick to their policy of not airing controversial advocacy ads ... and this is clearly a controversial ad,” Jehmu Greene, the president of the Women’s Media Center, told Reuters.

Fortunately, CBS seems to be sticking to its guns:

CBS said it no longer had a blanket filter on advocacy submissions for ad slots. “We have for some time moderated our approach to advocacy submissions after it became apparent that our stance did not reflect public sentiment or industry norms on the issue,” said CBS spokesman Dana McClintock.

I look forward to following what happens with this one.

Because, y’know, not every pro-life ad has been allowed to air during the Super Bowl.