Whether you’re aware of it or not, you are constantly influenced by the media. According to NPR, an estimated 123 million people tuned into this year’s Super Bowl, creating an impressive audience for any commercial aired. While a simple advertisement likely won’t change your views or values, it can create bias and make us subconsciously lean toward the advertisers’ side. Media is a powerful tool that we’re all exposed to daily and can shape our moral compass without knowing it.
One of these notorious ads was aired by the Israeli government to spread awareness of the 136 hostages currently held by Hamas, an Islamist militant group. The ad shows touching scenes of fathers with their children and states “To all the dads.. we vow to bring you home.” This has angered some because it begs the question, what about the thousands of dads (and women and children) who cannot come home at the hands of the Israeli government? In the early morning of February 12, right after the night of the Super Bowl, Israel launched a series of airstrikes on Rafah to recuse some of the hostages. Rafah is a city in the South of Gaza, packed with over one million Palestinians, many of whom fled from other parts of the country. Two of the hostages were rescued while over a hundred civilians were killed, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS).
Another controversial commercial was the “feet washing” from “He Gets Us”, a growing Christian campaign (the “he” referring to Jesus). The commercial switches through scenes of various people having their feet washed by others, all of which looked AI-generated, likely due to the multi-million dollar cost of airing the ad. Promoting your religion isn’t inherently wrong, but the demographic of people having their feet washed is disturbing.
They range from people of color, people appearing to be gender non-conforming, a woman outside an abortion clinic, the homeless and more. On top of this, the people washing their feet were mainly white. While some could interpret this as showing how “Jesus loves everyone”, this is in reference to the common Bible story of Jesus washing people’s feet to wash away their sins. The sins referenced are following a different religion, gender expression, or abortion.
The founder of Hobby Lobby, billionaire David Green, has admitted to being a large funder of the “He Gets Us” campaign. Green has been accused of being homophobic in the past due to his large donations to anti-LGBTQ organizations such as the National Christian Foundation and Hobby Lobby’s winning supreme court case, Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, that allows the store to refuse contraception coverage to employees.
Cases like this are why it’s important to remain critical of the media you consume, now more than ever. These commercials prove that, and as long as you have a few million dollars, almost anything can be aired to the masses.
