CBS OKs Script for Tim Tebow Super Bowl Ad
CBS officials have given initial approval for the ad that Christian group Focus on the Family seeks to have aired during America's most-watched television broadcast – the Super Bowl.
Though the network still has to review the actual ad before giving it the go-ahead, the script has been approved, according to Media Daily News, and a CBS spokesman does not anticipate any hurdles.
The 30-second commercial, which features football star Tim Tebow, will present the former Florida quarterback's personal story and will also feature Tebow's mother, who refused to have an abortion while she was pregnant with him despite having suffered from a life-threatening infection.
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Focus on the Family president and CEO Jim Daly said the Tebows' story "is such an important one for our culture to hear" and comes at a time when "families need to be inspired."
"Tim and Pam share our respect for life and our passion for helping families thrive," Daly commented.
Aside from the Tebows' appearance and the theme - "Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life" – little else about the ad is known. CBS's recent approval of the ad's script, however, suggests that it steers clear from a "current controversial issue of public importance" such as abortion, which the group's "culture action" arm is strongly and vocally opposed to.
Though Focus on the Family works to strengthen, defend and celebrate the institution of the traditional family, the organization is best known for the efforts of Focus on the Family Action, which works to protect life, marriage, and religious liberties.
As a separate legal organization, Focus Action works to inform, inspire and rally pro-family people when it comes to the "moral, cultural and political issues that threaten our nation."
Focus on the Family, on the other hand, "is about nurturing that desire [to help families thrive] and strengthening families by empowering them with the tools they need to live lives rooted in morals and values."
Focus on the Family spokesman Gary Schneeberger told AdAge magazine that the message in his organization's commercial is likely to act more as an offer of help, with the hope the commercial will generate awareness for the organization and its family services.
CBS understood "there are folks who ideologically disagree with Focus on the Family in some areas," Schneeberger said, but "we don't anticipate any trouble."
To finance the ad, Focus on the Family received donations specifically to support the project from a handful of "very generous and committed friends." No money from the ministry's general fund was used.
Super Bowl ad spots are reportedly selling for $2.5 million to $2.8 million.
