The Super Bowl, the highly anticipated finale of the National Football League  championship that takes place next Sunday in Arizona between the Kansas City Chief and Philadelphia Eagles, will be an important moment for Brad Hill. 

The senior executive leader of Gloo, a digital communication platform dedicated to the religious world, is one of the brains behind the "He Gets Us" campaign, designed to "rehabilitate the image of Jesus" in the United States. Two of Hill’s ads will be aired during the Super Bowl, the most followed sports event in North America.

"We'll have the attention of over 100 million viewers," he said.

Although a large majority of Americans recognize the spiritual importance of Jesus, his teachings are only slightly known. Above all, Christians are perceived by those who are not Christians as "hypocritical" (50 percent), "judgmental" (49 percent) or "arrogant" (32 percent). That’s according to a 2022 Ipsos poll conducted for the Episcopal Church.

Targeting those who are spiritually open, but skeptical 

Debates over abortion and homosexuality, the clergy sex abuse scandals within the Catholic Church, and the presence of Christian fundamentalists among the Capitol Hill rioters on January 6, 2021, have all helped tarnish the image of these believers. And, according to the initiators of the campaign, they have also obscured the image of Jesus Christ.

"He Gets Us" was launched in March 2022 and consists of a series of short, polished videos addressing different aspects of Jesus's life ("the rebel", "the doctor","the refugee", etc.). Viewers are directed to a site where they can read evangelical references about political polarization, gender equality, poverty or immigration. The curious are also invited to connect with one of the 20,000 members of the "He Gets Us" network.

"We want to show that the experience of Jesus can be relevant to the burdens of today's society: loneliness, anxiety, mental health issues," Hill said.

The "He Gets Us" videos have already been seen billions of times on social media, television, and even on the street – they have been shown on the jumbo screens in New York’s Times Square. The target audience is people who are "spiritually open, but skeptical of Christianity". This culturally Christian but disengaged population represents 54 percent of American adults, according to research conducted in 2021 by the campaign's organizers.

Does not want to be seen as a tool of the Evangelists

Behind the project is The Signatry, the fiscal arm of the Servant Foundation, a Kansas City-based foundation whose role is to connect wealthy Christian donors with NGOs. The fund initially invested some $100 million in the campaign ($20 million for the two Super Bowl ads alone). In total, the organizers plan to put $1 billion (€928 million) into the initiative over three years.

The names of the donors are not public, with the exception of David Green, the billionaire CEO of Hobby Lobby. The company, which is close to Evangelical circles, was at the heart of a noted dispute around the religious freedom of Christian family businesses, which were obliged by the health care reform adopted under Barack Obama to reimburse their employees' abortions through their insurance.

But according to Hill, the "He Gets Us" campaign does not want to be seen as a tool of the Evangelists. Instead, the project was launched primarily by "Christians concerned that the story of Jesus is becoming divisive".

"When you ask the general public what values Jesus embodies, they talk about his love, peace, hospitality. Nothing like the anger we see in society today," Hill said.