Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) complained about a Super Bowl commercial sponsored by the Christian group, “Servant Foundation,” calling it “fascism.” The commercial was part of the “He Gets Us” campaign and featured powerful images and messages.
The Christian organization’s message of hope and love for all drew mockery from Ocasio-Cortez. “I think this kind of language is, frankly, just really fascist rhetoric,” said Ocasio-Cortez in an interview with MSNBC. “And I believe that when you step back and take a look at what it’s saying, using fear to force people into submission isn’t really what Jesus Christ represents.
This is the ad @aoc claims makes “fascism look benign” https://t.co/H6xmLcaqvu
— Viva Frei (@thevivafrei) February 13, 2023
Hobby Lobby founder David Green, a devout Christian and one of the major funders of the He Gets Us campaign, said the group sought to reach the biggest audience of the year with its call for kindness and compassion.
Something tells me Jesus would *not* spend millions of dollars on Super Bowl ads to make fascism look benign
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 13, 2023
“You’re going to see it at the Super Bowl—‘He Gets Us.’ We are wanting to say—we being a lot of people—that He gets us,” Green said. “He understands us. He loves who we hate. I think we have to let the public know and create a movement.”
Jason Vanderground, spokesperson for the He Gets Us campaign, spoke to The Associated Press about why they chose Super Bowl LV as a platform for their message.
“It fits with our target audience really well,” Vanderground explained. “We’re trying to get the message across to people who are spiritually open, but skeptical.”
In his words, Vanderground highlighted the importance of connecting a message of love and kindness in today’s consumer-driven world.
“Selling chips is cool, selling light beers, all of that stuff is awesome,” said Vanderground. “I enjoy consuming all those things. But there’s something about figuring out the way that we treat fellow human beings that we think is just a profound activity to occur during the Super Bowl.”
