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A high-profile Christian ad campaign, known as "He Gets Us," faced significant mockery during the Super Bowl for its multimillion-dollar cost and its focus on foot-related imagery.
The ads, estimated to cost around $17.5 million, were part of a campaign run by the nonprofit Come Near. One of the ads featured people washing feet, accompanied by the following message:
"Jesus didn't teach hate. He washed feet. He gets us. All of us."
The images included a police officer washing a man's feet, a woman involved in an anti-abortion protest washing a girl's feet outside a family planning clinic, and another woman washing someone's feet surrounded by protesters.
You can see the ad below.
Foot Washingwww.youtube.com
The foot fetish jokes quickly came stomping in.
Other criticisms were far more pointed.
The campaign, backed by billionaire Hobby Lobby co-founder David Green, had previously stirred controversy and returned with two new spots during the big game.
The Come Near campaign had previously received funding from The Signatry, an organization associated with Green. The Signatry has donated millions to the Alliance Defending Freedom, labeled an anti-LGBTQ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).
The SPLC says on its website that it deemed the Alliance Defending Freedom a hate group in part "because it has supported the idea that being LGBTQ+ should be a crime in the U.S. and abroad and believes that it's OK to put LGBTQ+ people in prison for engaging in consensual sex."
The campaign is now overseen by a nonprofit, and Mart Green, David's son and Hobby Lobby's "Ministry Investment Officer," is reported to be on Come Near's board of directors.
The Green family, with an estimated net worth of $15.2 billion, has maintained a steadfast commitment to running their crafts store empire, Hobby Lobby, based on what they describe as "Biblical principles."
One notable instance involved Hobby Lobby leading a successful fight at the Supreme Court against the Affordable Care Act's contraception mandate. Citing "sincere religious objections to facilitating the provision of abortifacients," the family and their company secured a 2014 ruling that closely held corporations, with owners expressing religious objections, do not have to comply with the mandate.
In a separate and equally controversial legal battle, Hobby Lobby waged an 11-year fight to prevent a transgender employee in Illinois from using the women's restroom at one of their crafts stores.