It was a down year for Super Bowl commercials, but one stood out as a huge disappointment.
The much-anticipated spot with Tim Tebow and his mother, Pam, fell far short of the hype.
To be fair though, that’s not really their fault.
For 30 seconds, Pam referenced her decision to not have an abortion when she was carrying Tim, without saying as much directly.
Then, Tim tackled her, they smiled for a few seconds and the ad invited viewers to read more about the Tebows’ story by heading to a Web site.
It wasn’t super entertaining, but it was at least heartfelt, and there was an attempt at humor (which also managed to generate controversy with NOW).
That would have been in keeping with the way this commercial was talked about when it was announced a few weeks ago. People lost their minds, and I was never really sure why.
Was it because the Tebows are pro-life? Everyone knows that.
Was it because Pam chose not to abort Tim? Everyone knows that, too.
I guess people expected Tebow and his mom to have war paint on their faces and be screaming about baby killers, but that’s not how the Tebows roll.
For as visible as they are with their beliefs, they aren’t pushy at all, and hopefully people took that away from the Super Bowl ad.
They just use the stage that fans and the media have set up for them, largely in a quiet way, and that’s something they should be applauded for.
Disagreeing with the underlying message isn’t really the issue.
It’s not news that some people are pro-life and some are pro-choice, and if anything, this ad should be a lesson in how we can handle these debates in public.
No one has to be angry or force their views on others, just offer a chance for discussion.
That’s what was done here, and whether you agree or not with the Tebows shouldn’t really matter when it comes to their commercial.
The problem is, people always have to take opinions on Tebow to the extreme. He was called the best college player ever before even playing a full career.
When he got a concussion against Kentucky, people flipped out and acted like they knew everything about his situation.
Now his delivery and ability to read defenses is considered so terrible that he can never function as a productive NFL quarterback.
Why can’t we just admit we don’t know?
No one knows if Tebow will pan out at the next level, just like no one really knew his post-concussion status or what would be in that Super Bowl commercial.
Given the amount of negative attention it garnered beforehand, maybe Tebow would rather have avoided any controversy and just not done the ad, but I doubt it.
He wants to get his message out there — and he’s going to — and there’s no point in getting upset about it.
The only thing I would have done differently was make the commercial more entertaining.
Tebow rapping Kanye West’s “Hey Mama” in the background while Pam talked would’ve done the job.
