'He Gets Us' spend $20 million on Super Bowl ad to rebrand Jesus

‘He Gets Us’ organizers to spend $20M to promote Jesus during Super Bowl as part of three-year $1B campaign: Hobby Lobby CEO is among donors pumping money into Christian group set on ‘redeeming savior’s brand’

• Hobby Lobby co-founder and billionaire David Green among those to donate   
• ‘He Gets Us’ has links to controversial conservative groups including anti-LGBT rights organization Alliance Defending Freedom 
• Christian community condemns $20 million advertising budget as it could have been used to ‘house the homeless.’

A Christian non-profit has spent $20 million to promote Jesus during the Super Bowl as part of a three-year, billion-dollar campaign to rebrand the biblical savior. 

Adverts for the ‘He Gets Us’ project, whose affluent donors include Hobby Lobby co-founder and billionaire David Green, have been popping up across social media, billboards and television screens for the last year. 

But the decision to advertise at the Super Bowl has attracted backlash from the Christian community, with one woman claiming ‘Jesus would want the money to house the homeless.’ 

A billboard shows a ‘He Gets Us’ advert. The project is spending $1 billion on advertising over three years 

Hobby Lobby co-founder and billionaire David Green, pictured, is a confirmed donor of He Gets Us 

The ‘He Gets Us’ project is run by non-profit The Servant Foundation which operates under the name The Signatry.

It claims not to be ‘left or right’ wing and is not affiliated with any particular church or denomination. 

According to its slick website, its mission is to make people ‘see how Jesus experienced challenges and emotions just like we have.’

Slogans for the campaign include ‘Jesus was a refugee’ and ‘Jesus let his hair down too’. 

Its adverts have appeared everywhere from billboards in Las Vegas to – more recently – during the NFL playoffs. 

A slick website for the movement claims its mission is to ‘reintroduce’ people to Jesus 

The campaign is based on the idea Jesus had the same ‘challenges and emotions’ as ordinary people

However the organization has ties to a host of controversial right-wing organizations.

Its accounts for 2020, the most recently available, show it gave over $16 milllion to Alliance Defending Freedom – an advocacy group which has worked to curtail the rights of LGBT people. 

In the past its funding had been shrouded in secrecy. 

But in November Hobby Lobby entrepreneur made clear his involvement in the project during a discussion on The Glenn Beck program.  

He told the host: ‘You’re going to see it at the Super Bowl — ‘He gets Us’.

‘We are wanting to say — we being a lot of people — that he gets us. He understands us. He loves who we hate. I think we have to let the public know and create a movement.’

Green, whose net worth was valued at $13.7 billion by Forbes, has been a major financial supporter of Evangelical organizations across the US and funded the Museum of the Bible in Washington D.C.  

The Signatry board appears to be made up of wealthy businessman. Gary Nagle, left, is chairman while Steve French, right, is listed as the President and CEO

The project’s tax records show its donors have also included the pro-life group Mission Pre-Born which gave The Signatry $4 million in 2020. 

Meanwhile the American Endowment foundation donated $3.8 million in the same year while Schwab Charitable Fund donated $1.6 million. 

‘He Gets Us’ confirmed to DailyMail.com that Green was a donor. It also confirmed the Super Bowl adverts were costing the organization $20 million.

It would not reveal its other donors but said they were ‘a diverse group of individuals and entities.’

The organization has also confirmed its goal was to invest about a billion dollars over three years. 

A ‘He Gets Us’ advert featured during the NFL playoffs was entitled ‘That day.’

It tells the story of an innocent man being executed before ending with the statement: ‘He gets us. All of us.’ 

Its board is made up of wealthy businessmen under the leadership of Chairman GAry Nagel, who founded Wealth Management Group of Kansas City. 

The President and CEO is Steve French who claims to be the founder and CEO of a legal spend management company called Quovant.

The expensive advertising campaign has raised eyebrows in the Christian community.

‘He Gets Us’ has plunged $20 million into the Super Bowl ad alone. Religious ads have only appeared at the game on a handful of occasions in the past 

Its adverts include slogans like ‘Jesus let his hair down too’ and ‘Jesus was a refugee’

One Facebook user said: ‘I think Jesus would have supported using your advertising funds to help those who need help, not to push your agenda”

Another wrote: ‘Jesus would want you to use all that money to house the homeless, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, comfort the sick….not put f****** ads on tv.’

Religious ads have appeared at the Super Bowl on only a handful of occasions.

The Church of Scientology has run adverts there in the past and in 2018 Toyota ran an ad with the message ‘we’re all one team’, featuring a rabbi, a priest, an iman and a saffron-robed monk who attended a football game, sitting next to a group of nuns.

‘He Gets Us’ spokesman Jason Vanguard told DailyMail.com: ‘Our research shows that many people’s only exposure to Jesus is through Christians who reflect him imperfectly, and too often in ways that create a distorted or incomplete picture of his radical compassion and love for others. 

‘We believe that investing in efforts to ensure more people consider his life and movement as inspiration for their own, will in turn, help improve the lives of those listening.’

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