By now, the infamous foot-washing commercial released by the “He Gets Us” campaign during the Super Bowl has gone viral for all the wrong reasons, leaving many fellow Christians to bemoan the golden opportunity squandered by this cringe-inducing ad.
That then leads us to wonder — what could “He Gets Us” have done instead to maximize the impact of this unparalleled chance to evangelize?
Well, Pastor Jamie Bambrick of Hope Church, Craigavon, in Northern Ireland, had just the same thought, and decided to create his own version of what many Christians believe the ad should have been.
As shared on his X account, Bambrick captioned his revised version as the “Christian Super Bowl Ad They SHOULD have made.”
He then explains how a “group known as ‘He Gets Us’ released an advert during the Super Bowl which, whilst perhaps well intentioned, failed to convey anything of the gospel to the hundreds of millions who saw it,” before offering his version.
The Christian Super Bowl Ad They SHOULD Have Made
A group known as ‘He Gets Us’ released an advert during the Super Bowl which, whilst perhaps well intentioned, failed to convey anything of the gospel to the hundreds of millions who saw it.
Here’s my take on what they should… pic.twitter.com/isJgzfzaI6
— Jamie Bambrick (@j_bambrick) February 13, 2024
In the ad, Bambrick spliced together a variety of black and white photos of real converts (already an improvement over the possibly AI-generated images in the original). Over them, he superimposed captions describing their former lives, such as “witch,” “former jihadist,” “former KKK member” and “former abortionist.”
He then revised the text of the original ad to say “Jesus doesn’t just get us. He saves us,” before cycling through other variations on that phrase, such as “He restores us,” “He forgives us,” and “He redeems us,” and “He loves us.”
Is Pastor Jamie Bambrick’s ad better than the “He Gets Us” ad?
The ad concludes with a reference to a verse in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, with the words “such were some of you” (1 Cor. 6:11).
Already, the response to Bambrick’s version of the ad has been, in contrast to the “He Gets Us” effort, overwhelmingly positive.
One user commented it gave him “goosebumps,” while another called it “absolutely perfect.”
DUDE. Goosebumps.
— Josh Daws (@JoshDaws) February 13, 2024
This is absolutely perfect!
— Brandon Lansdown (@BrandonLansdown) February 13, 2024
There’s even a fundraising campaign born from this ad to get it shown during next year’s Super Bowl.
Let’s get a campaign to fund putting this ad up during the next Super Bowl.
— Jenna Ellis (@JennaEllisEsq) February 13, 2024
What Bambrick effectively does in a short amount of time is supply what was missing and then some in the original, infamous ad.
What the original “He Gets Us” ad neglected was how, yes, Jesus ate with prostitutes, tax collectors, and all manner of sinners and social rejects, but He didn’t give them a squishy “I’m OK, you’re OK” kind of affirmation.
When he healed or forgave someone, he said, “go and sin no more.”
And that’s what Bambrick effectively captures in his version of the ad: Jesus takes as we are, but he does not leave us as we are.
He reaches us where we are to bring us to something higher, something better, which we see in the pictures Bambrick includes.
These people weren’t just accepted by Jesus, they were transformed, from lifestyles and professions as debased and degrading as abortionist or porn star to true believer in and follower of Jesus.
That’s what “He Gets Us” missed in its ad — that Jesus calls everyone to repentance.
Jesus doesn’t just love us, he saves us.
And, considering the fundraising campaign currently being launched to air Bambrick’s version during the next Super Bowl, maybe more people will finally encounter the full Gospel message.
