Why The Super Bowl Advertisements Have A Lesson For The Church

I get nervous watching my children watch television. It's not the programmes they watch that worry me so much as the advertising they are forced to consume. In my experience there is a direct link between what they see on the screen and what they expect to have in our house.

Talk to many Christians today and ask them what is wrong with the world and they will point to the challenges of consumerism and the power of advertising driven by the ambitions of big businesses. My parental anxieties seem to support this notion. But this weekend I saw something that took me by surprise when it comes to my preconceptions of the influence of media and business.

This weekend saw that significant global event that is one of America's cultural highlights: the Super Bowl. 2017's game proved to be historic in many ways. The match itself made history as it included the biggest comeback recorded as the Patriots came from behind to overpower the Atlanta Falcons to win 34:28. It also meant that Tom Brady, the Patriot's quarterback, received a record-breaking five Super Bowl winners rings, which proclaims him the undisputed most successful quarterback in Superbowl history.

I can't claim to be an American football fan. So for me the most interesting part of the cultural experience is the commercials. They are some of the most expensive ad slots to purchase on the planet. Companies invest a huge amount of time, effort and money to make sure their brands are correctly represented at this set piece event. This year, I was surprised to see that advertisers took some huge risks. They took the risk of alienating not just 46 per cent of voting Americans but the US president himself in using their primetime promotion to advocate for the rights of minority groups, to champion diversity and stand up for women.

In the light of that, here are my five favourite Super Bowl ads from this year:

Coca Cola

Coke bought two slots to reshow an ad they used at the 2014 Super Bowl. The patriotic song 'America the Beautiful' is sung by various people in different languages including Spanish and Arabic. It was controversial last time but this time it elicited an even bigger reaction including the #boycottcoke hashtag.

Air BNB

Not only did AirBnB launch a very powerful advert, it also made a public pledge to offer over the next five years free temporary housing to 100,000 people in need. This came off the back of the help it provided to people who were caught in the middle of Trump's travel ban. The ad included the words: "We believe no matter who you are, where you're from, who you love, or who you worship, we all belong."

Budweiser

This ad drew attention to the fact that founder Adolphus Busch was an immigrant. It tells a classically American story of a young entrepreneur with an unstoppable vision to brew a new kind of beer. It is now hard to imagine a more American beer than Budweiser and yet that didn't stop the #boycottbudweiser twitter campaign being launched in response to the ad.

84 Lumber

A Pennsylvania-based building supply company took on Donald Trump's divisive Mexican Wall policy head on in an advertisement showing the difficult journey of a mother and her daughter to the USA from what looks like Mexico. The full-length ad was too controversial and was not allowed to be shown so a shortened one was permitted at the Superbowl.

Audi

In this powerful ad a man's voice asks "What do I tell my daughter? Do I tell her grandpa is worth more than her grandma? That her dad is worth more than her mom? That despite her education, her drive, her skills, her intelligence she will automatically be valued as less than every man she ever meets? Or maybe I'll be able to tell her something different..." then the caption comes on the screen "Audi of America is committed to equal pay for equal work. Progress is for everyone."

These five businesses took the weekend not only to promote their individual brands, but to take some action against the injustices they saw around them. This coincided with an extraordinary podcast launched this weekend by Harvard Business Review where the former president of Harvard University Larry Summers put out a clear challenge to business leaders:

"If CEOs who employ hundreds of thousands of people are not in a position to speak truth to power, who is going to be in a position to speak truth to power?"

He went on to call business leaders to stand up for "Statue-of-Liberty values" which include openness and freedom, and making policy decisions based on facts and evidence, not on hunch and gut impression. He concluded with the challenge that: "If history teaches us anything, it is that authoritarianism is best combated at early stages rather than late stages."

It is a dangerous thing to stand up to President Trump in so public a manner. By standing up for the rights of immigrants, Judge Robart, a well respected, republican appointed federal judge with an exemplary public service record, as well as a practising foster carer, has been personally attacked by Trump on Twitter with the following threat:

"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!"

This attack has not stopped the business community standing up for equality,hospitality, compassion and diversity. What we saw during the Super Bowl was big business following Robart's footsteps in publicly speaking up for "Statue of Liberty" values.

While I can only commend them for the courage of their convictions, in some ways I wish it had been the Church that was seen to be speaking out for gospel values. Despite some valiant minority voices the Church has often stayed silent or supported policies that run contrary to the gospel of grace. When business is braver than the Church we need to check our priorities and assumptions.

This weekend I called my children down to watch these adverts with me. Maybe we are entering an exciting opportunity for business and the Church to stand together for human dignity.

Dr Krish Kandiah is founding director of Home for Good, a writer, consultant, activist and executive producer of Books for Life.