Roundup: It’s Time to Play Monday Morning Quarterback

Focus on the Family ad a snoozer and a game of "who's racist?" It's the Monday morning roundup!

So the Saints went marching in to Miami, and now they are Super Bowl champions.  But despite their miraculous win over the Colts, let’s be honest…this Bowl was all about the commercials.  So did the Tebow/Focus on the Family ad live up to the hype?

Meh.

To be fair, there was a LOT of hype to live up to, as opinions on the ad were divided and heated. According to Rassmussen, less that half of the people surveyed agreed with CBS’s decision to run the FoF ad during the Super Bowl (Of course, the anti-choice community found their own polling to claim everyone was supportive of the ad).  The Washington Post dedicated their letters section to debating the merits of even debating the commercial. 

Personally, I didn’t really notice the commercial.  I spent the first 10 seconds trying to figure out what Mary Steenburgen was promoting. Once I figured out that it was in fact that infamous Tim Tebow ad, I was trying to decide why he was tacking him mom, since he’s a quarterback and that’s not really his thing.  Maybe she was too heavy to throw?  Next thing I knew, it was done, and there was another Doritos ad running.

The LA Times agrees: a whole lot of noise for nothing.

Boy tackles mom. That was about it.

The ad that
made former Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow and his mother, Pam,
the unintended stars of Super Bowl XLIV was not a screed against
abortion.

Nor was it a heartwarming story about a mother ignoring
doctors’ advice and having her baby.

It was, instead, a lighthearted take on a mother-son relationship.

Of course, the ad was benign because of the controversy. FoF also ran their "pre-game" ads, the one that CBS refused to run during the game because of their controversial nature.  

The
second commercial plans to go further than the first and will reveal
more details about Pam
Tebow’s decision
not to have an abortion than CBS would allow
in the first ad already planned for during the Super Bowl.

This
Super Bowl surprise has Focus unveiling a second ad that will also
feature him Tebow and his mother and it was filmed in Orlando at the
same time last month as the ad that has garnered so much attention.

Focus
on the Family won’t reveal the details of this surprise second ad,
but CEO Jim Daly confirmed to USA Today that this ad goes further
and it appears to be the original ad CBS rejected before it worked
with the station on a revised commercial fitting its standards.

In the end, I suppose Focus on the Family feels good, because their "brilliant marketing strategy" got them approximately $10 million in media mentions for about $3 million dollars.  And thanks to efforts like "Tailgate for Choice," many pro-choice groups got to reap some financial benefit as well. I doubt anyone changed their stance on choice based on what actually occurred on the screen.

But the biggest victory is likely Tim Tebow’s.  Odds are that is the only Super Bowl performance he’s ever going to make.

 

Mini Roundup: Some folks are calling Planned Parenthood’s video response to the Tebow ad racist.  This coming from people who make billboards calling African American children a "species."

 

February 8, 2010

Pro-Life
Advocates Applaud Focus on the Family’s Tim Tebow Super Bowl Ad
LifeNews.com

Pro-Life
News: Ultrasound, Arlen Specter, Abstinence, Virginia, Georgia
LifeNews.com

Against
pro-life
groups
McGill
Daily

Tebow
ad falls short of the hype
Los Angeles Times

Super
Bowl XXLVIIXXLVVI
Huffington
Post

Letters:
Say ‘no’ to government-funded
abortion
Dubuque Telegraph Herald

Letters
from readers:
Abortion
battle
Florida
Times-Union

Ottawa
County teen pregnancy up 14%
WOOD-TV

Rise
in unwanted pregnancies shows women remain fertile
Scottish Daily Record

 

February 7, 2010

Local
level planning must to ensure health care
The New Nation

Letter:
Going
pro-life
Topeka Capital Journal

Poll:
Backers of Tim Tebow
Pro-Life Super Bowl Ad Best Opponents by 15%
LifeNews.com

Watch
the Focus on the Family
Pro-Life Tim Tebow Super Bowl Commercial
LifeNews.com

Four
in 10 agree with CBS decision to run ‘
pro-life‘ ad
The Desert Sun

Klobuchar
urges
adoption
reform
Minneapolis
Star Tribune

The
child snatchers: U.S. missionaries are accused of ‘stealing orphans’
Daily Mail

Federal
investigators explore charges against Roeder
Kansas City Star

‘Miracle’
Tim Tebow Super Bowl ad puts hit on critics
USA Today

 

February 6, 2010

’89
Giants
pro-life
video a courageous legacy for Tebow’s Super Bowl ad
BP News

More
pro-life
(dis)unity: Is Randall Terry helping the
pro-life movement?
RenewAmerica

Amid
crisis in Haiti,
adoptions still require careful scrutiny
Boston Globe

Adoption a
one-way ticket out of Haiti
Times LIVE

Evangelicals’
Adoption
Battlecry
Daily
Beast

Up
in arms over Tim Tebow’s controversial Super Bowl ad
Washington Post

Ignatieff’s
abortion
plan ‘pathetic’: bishop
National Post

Susan
Hill,
abortion-rights
pioneer, dies at 61
The
State

Ad
Follies of the Super Bowl
New York Times

Planned
Parenthood Uses Tebow Response to Target More Black
Abortions
NewsBlaze

In
The
Abortion
Trenches: 12th & Delaware
Huffington Post

Sex
Ed, With No Federal Strings?
New York Times

Sex
ed that works: Fine tuning abstinence message
The Star-Ledger – NJ.com

 

February 5, 2010

Pentagon
Allows Morning After Pill on Military Bases
ABC News

Child
Has A Child: 11 Year Old Gives Birth

Gather.com

Super
Bowl Sunday: What You Won’t See
Huffington Post

Pro-Choice
Advocates Criticize CBS for Accepting Anti-Abortion Super Bowl Ad
Democracy Now

Where
Does NARAL
Pro-Choice
America Stand on the Tebow Commercial?

Huffington Post

Scott
Brown: Not Pro-Life, Not Catholic
America Magazine

The
Problem With
Pro-Choice Men
Daily Beast

Pro-Life
Group ‘Blocks Hard for Tebow’
Christian Broadcasting Network

Is
This
Pro-Life Ad
Too Graphic?
National Catholic Register

Pro-Life
Takes on Pop Culture
Atlantic
Online

Confirmation
Hopes May Be Setting for Dawn Johnsen, Radical Pro-Abort Obama Pick
Lifesite

Is
Joy Behar the new poster child for
pro-life?
Gather.com

Pro-life
group slams Spanish president for hiding behind ‘democratic mask’
Catholic News Agency

Randall
Terry is Wrong,
Pro-Life Author and Speaker Declares
Christian News Wire

Reproductive
Rights Groups Beg Obama Not to Cut
Family Planning
U.S. News and World Report

Too
Poor to Afford Unfair Birth-Control Violation
The Epoch Times

Couples
Keep
Adoption All
in the Family
NBC
Los Angeles

Thomas:
Super commercial a voice for life over
abortion
Salt Lake Tribune

Abortion Is
Fine, But ‘Prayer Breakfast Draws Controversy’
Media Research Center

Is
George W. Bush pro-life?
Baltimore Sun

Women’s
lives at risk because of Nicaragua’s
abortion ban
Amnesty International

Abortion
Practitioner Alberto Hodari Faces Lawsuit Over Improper
Abortion
LifeNews.com

Utah
House approves
abortion law
changes
LocalNews8.com

What
is choice really about?
Dallas Morning News

Utah
House OKs ultrasounds before
abortions

Salt Lake Tribune

Parental
Notification Laws for
Abortion Cause Physical and Emotional Harm
Huffington Post

Anti-Abortion
Billboards on Race Split Atlanta
New York Times

Brookline
braces for relocation of
abortion clinic Tuesday
Boston Globe

Abortion
rights should focus on children
UM Maneater

Does
abstinence-only sex ed work?
The Guardian