By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
A national coalition of women’s groups is calling upon CBS to cancel its plans to broadcast a pro-family commercial during the Super Bowl that features Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow and the mother who opted to give him birth rather than follow her doctor’s advice to abort him.
“An ad that uses sports to divide rather than to unite has no place in the biggest national sports event of the year – an event designed to bring Americans together,” said Jehmu Greene, president of the New York-based Women’s Media Center.
The Center is coordinating the effort to pressure CBS to drop the ad and is backed by organizations such as the National Organization for Women and the Feminist Majority.
Thus far, CBS is refusing to cave and says it has approved the script for the 30 second ad and determined it was “appropriate for air.”
The ad will tell the story of Tim Tebow, who was born to a devout evangelical Christian family in the Philippines during one of the family’s mission trips. When Mrs. Tebow came down with amoebic dysentery and slipped into a coma, she was given strong antibiotics that were known to damage or kill unborn babies.
Shortly after her recovery, Mrs. Tebow learned she was pregnant and doctors immediately advised her to abort the child. But she and her husband had prayed for the baby, who they already named Timothy.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Tim Tebow grew up to be one of the greatest players in college football history — becoming the first sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy and who helped lead the Florida Gators to two national titles in his four years at the university.
Tim is famous for his Christian faith, bravely sporting the verse Jn. 3:16 on his eye-black during football games.
The 30-second commercial, which costs anywhere from $2.5 to $2.8 million, was sponsored by the Christian apostolate, Focus on the Family.
Gary Schneeberger, a spokesman for Focus on the Family, told the Huffington Post he and his colleagues “were a little surprised” at the furor over the ad, which he says is pro-family.
“There’s nothing political and controversial about it,” he said. “When the day arrives, and you sit down to watch the game on TV, those who oppose it will be quite surprised at what the ad is all about.”
The Women’s Media Center disagrees and told CBS in their letter of protest that “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.”
Others question why these women’s groups are focusing on a pro-family ad while dismissing the other more objectionable ads that will run during the Super Bowl this year.
“Each year, the Super Bowl broadcast is almost as anticipated for its ads as for the game itself,” writes Matthew Philbin of Newsbusters. “Many of them tastelessly use sex and the objectification of the female body to attract attention. You’d think ‘women’s groups’ might have something to say about that. But they reserve their censorship calls for what they really care about.”
The lucrative abortion market.
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