T CBS to air pro-life ad during Super Bowl

Is anyone excited for the Super Bowl next Sunday? I know college quarterback star Tim Tebow is — and not just because he’s a football fan.

Last week, CBS announced their approval of an advertisement to air during the Super Bowl, paid for and sponsored by an organization called Focus on the Family.

The organization is more literally an evangelical ministry based out of Colorado that has strong conservative political influence.

“We’re not trying to sell anything. We’re trying to celebrate families,” said Focus on the Family spokesperson Gary Schneeberger of the upcoming commercial’s ambitions.

Oh, but they are trying to do so much more than that. The 30-second advertisement stars Tebow, and his mother Pam, who was advised by doctors to get an abortion when she was pregnant with Tim (her fifth child) for fear of birth complications. Spoiler alert: she didn’t, and Tim went on to win the Heisman Trophy.

However, not everyone shares the Tebows’ enthusiasm over the ad. A coalition of women’s organizations (headed by the Women’s Media Center) wrote to CBS on Monday, asking them to pull the ad.

“By offering one of the most coveted advertising spots of the year to an anti-equality, anti-choice, homophobic organization, CBS is aligning itself with a political stance that will damage its reputation, alienate viewers, and discourage consumers from supporting its shows and advertisers,” according to a letter by the coalition.

CBS won’t back down, though. According to Schneeberger, CBS didn’t find anything in the ministry’s background to justify rejecting the ad.

But ironically enough, that has never been a problem for CBS. Five years ago, they refused an advertisement by the United Church of Christ, a more liberal church that prides itself on “inclusiveness.”

Their ad consisted of two gay men attempting to walk into a church, only to be forced out by a bouncer before they could get in. At the end of the commercials, their slogan posted “Jesus didn’t turn people away. Neither do we.”

And that was just too much for CBS. At the time, the network stated in a letter that they held “a longstanding policy of not accepting advocacy advertising.”

Despite how obviously flawed their logic is, what are the implications of CBS’s decision to place the ad? If a ministry can buy its way into a $2.5 million commercial, it’s scary to think of what else money can now buy, including the opinions of the public.

Is running the ad hypocritical? Of course. Is it offensive? Depends on what side you’re on. Is it appropriate to show during the Super Bowl, or any highly-publicized event?

Absolutely not, especially if you’re using a sports star to persuade sports fans into a highly opinionated debate.

Perhaps CBSSports.com columnist Gregg Doyel represented the feelings the simplest. He said the Super Bowl, “is not a day to discuss abortion. For it, against it, I don’t care what you are. On Super Sunday, I don’t care what I am. February 7th is simply not the day to have that discussion.”

Let’s hope that the 100 million viewers agree with him.