Feature Story - March 2010
Critics Jump the Gun on Tebow Ad
In announcing the commercial, Focus President and CEO, Jim Daly, said it was the "right moment in the culture" to "lift up a meaningful message about family and life" because "families need to be inspired."
In the weeks and days leading up to the Super Bowl on CBS, a number of pro-choice proponents took aim at a 30-second ad sponsored by Focus on the Family, even though none had seen the spot until the airing of the NFL championship game on February 7th.
On January 15th, the Colorado Springs-based ministry announced the ad, saying it would feature former University of Florida quarterback and 2007 Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow and his mother Pam.
In a news release at the time, Focus said mother and son would "share a personal story centered on the theme, ‘Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life.'"
Daly continued, "Tim and Pam share our respect for life and our passion for helping families thrive. They live what we see every day–that the desire for family closeness is written on the hearts of every generation."
Daly noted that the ad, which cost in excess of $2.5 million, was covered by people who donated specifically to support the project, and that no money from the ministry's general fund was used.
Although Focus would not comment directly on the content of the ad, reports surfaced that it would focus on Pam Tebow, who suffered from a dangerous infection during a mission trip to the Philippines while pregnant with Tim. She decided against medical advice to terminate her pregnancy, amid concerns she might die in childbirth or the child might be stillborn.
Tim Tebow, who was home-schooled until college, is known for outwardly expressing his Christian faith. During his college career, he put references to Scripture passages on his eye black, patches football players wear under their eyes to prevent glare.
Following the Focus announcement, several women's groups complained to CBS about the commercial, urging it not to air the ad. They noted that in previous years, the network banned a number of issue-oriented spots, including one in 2004 put out by the United Church of Christ, which promoted the denomination's open-door policy for gays and lesbians. However, the network said that it stood by the ad, and stated that it had revised its policies on advocacy ads in recent years.
The protest letter was penned by the Women's Media Center, which read, in part, "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."
NARAL Pro-Choice America President, Nancy Keenan, said of the ad, "We support every woman's ability to make the decisions that are best for her and her family. But Focus on the Family wants to take options away from women."
Planned Parenthood produced an online video response to the Focus commercial. In it, former NFL player Sean Jones and former Olympic gold-medalist track star Al Joyner talk about the importance of women being able to make their own health decisions without government interference.
Planned Parenthood President, Cecile Richards, stated, "Planned Parenthood respects the ability of every woman to make important personal medical decisions for herself and her family, including the decision by Pam Tebow more than 20-years-ago to carry her high-risk pregnancy to term and deliver her son Tim. The Tebow's story is compelling, and central to it is the fact that we must respect the ability of every woman to make important medical decisions for herself and her family, after receiving counsel from medical professionals, religious leaders, family members or others she trusts.
If Focus on the Family, the sponsor of the ad about the Tebow family, has its way, millions of women would no longer be able to make important personal medical decisions for themselves and their families when it comes to abortion. Focus on the Family's long-stated goal is to outlaw abortion except in rare cases when the woman's life is severely at risk. This is an extreme position, which would rob every woman of the ability to make important personal medical decisions for herself and her family," Richards said.
National Organization for Women President, Terry O'Neill, told the Associated Press that the commercial is "extraordinarily offensive and demeaning."
O'Neill added, "That's not respectful of other people's lives. It is offensive to hold one way out as being a superior way over everybody else's."
The Rev. Carlton Veazey, president and ceo of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, said that the ad presented only one woman's experience.
"Pam Tebow chose to continue her pregnancy against medical advice, and thankfully, gave birth to a healthy child. But that is not always the case, and even the suggestion that a woman should ignore medical advice is irresponsible, harmful and dangerous.
Women face difficult moral choices every day. This ad fails to present all of them–to continue a pregnancy, to terminate a pregnancy, and to make an adoption plan–and in that way distorts the very real complexities of women's lives.
It is a blessing that Tim's birth was healthy, but it is irresponsible to encourage other women to take such a risk, and it is offensive to use the Super Bowl to suggest that such a risk is justified by the birth of an athlete," Veazey said.
The ad in question begins with Pam Tebow holding a baby picture of Tim holding a football.
"I call him my miracle baby," she says. "He almost didn't make it into this world...You know, with all our family's been through, we have to be tough."
Suddenly she appears to be tackled by Tim and flies off the screen.
"Timmy!" she scolds, popping back up. "I'm trying to tell our story here!"
Tim joins her and apologizes. "You still worry about me, Mom?"
"Well, yeah," says Pam. "You're not nearly as tough as I am."
The tagline, "Celebrate Family. Celebrate Life.," directs viewers to the Focus Website (www.focusonthefamily.com) for more information about the Tebow family story, including an interview with Pam and her husband, Bob Tebow.
Some criticism persisted after the spot aired.
The Women's Media Center stated, "$2.8 million–How much Focus on the Family paid CBS to attempt to pull the wool over America's eyes. As expected, the benign ad featuring Tebow and his mom tried to hide Focus on the Family's intolerant and divisive agenda. That the ad was ‘co-produced' by CBS should be seen as a serious referendum on the status of women in the media."
Likewise, NOW's O'Neill said, the commercial glorified violence against women. "I am blown away at the celebration of the violence against women in it. That's what comes across to me even more strongly than the anti-abortion message. I myself am a survivor of domestic violence, and I don't find it charming. I think CBS should be ashamed of itself."
In response, Dr. Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, said, the spot was "perhaps the most anticipated game-time advertisement ever."
"The commercial celebrated life and family; who could argue with that story line? Unfortunately, many on the left who rabidly champion a woman's right to kill (abort) her unborn or partially born child bitterly opposed the ad's airing.
The president of the National Organization of Women, Terry O'Neill, who, along with many other presumedly ‘women's groups,' berated the ad–prior to its airing–for its supposed ‘anti-choice' message, have changed their tune and are now criticizing the spot for glorifying violence toward women. Give me a break!
Pro-abortion groups sell women short. In their apparent narrow-mindedness, they don't recognize (or won't admit) that abortion is violent and destructive–clearly for the unborn child whose life is taken, but just as much to the baby's mother. The majority of Americans are now pro-life, to some degree or another, according to pollsters. More and more Americans are seeing through the empty arguments of those who want abortions to be legal in every circumstance," Land replied.
National Right to Life Committee's Dave Andrusko, in a column, observed, "What goes round comes round. NOW and the Feminist Majority smelled blood (how dare CBS allow such an ad!), and goes to Def-Con One. However, many of their soft-core supporters, embarrassed by the heavy-handed response, say ‘Whoa, Nellie,' and NOW looks absolutely and utterly foolish. On top of that, the Tebows get a "10" for their performance."
Preliminary data indicated, the Focus Web site logged 500,000 hits and 50,000 unique visitors during the hour in which the spot aired.
In commenting on all the controversy surrounding the commercial, Focus spokesman, Gary Schneeberger, said, "There's this general feeling of, why all the vitriol, why all the assumptions made about the ad, when, in fact, it was exactly what we said it was all along simple and inspiring."
There's speculation that broadcasters of the NFL championship game, in the future, might face demands for air time from opposing sides on divisive issues.
However, Schneeberger maintained that the commercial was not an advocacy ad.
"This wasn't political. This wasn't advocacy. This wasn't controversial. It's an inspirational story about a mother and son who love each other.
Obviously, it's up to other groups how they want to go about publicizing what it is that they do. We felt very strongly that the Super Bowl audience, particularly the fact that there's a lot of families watching, was a great place for us to present our message," Schneeberger said.
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