A multimillion-dollar Christian ad campaign preaching love for thy neighbors got ungodly backlash over its price tag — and its prominent foot fixations — during the Super Bowl on Sunday night. The “He Gets Us” ads, which were backed by billionaire Hobby Lobby co-founder David Green last year, sparked outrage again when they made a return to the big game with two new spots including one featuring people washing feet. “Jesus didn’t teach hate. He washed feet. He gets us. All of us,” one ad read after showcasing images of people washing feet. The images include a police officer washing a man’s feet, a woman — seemingly part of an anti-abortion protest — washing a girl’s feet outside of a “family planning clinic” and a woman washing another woman’s feet as protesters surround them. Both ads, part of a campaign run by the nonprofit Come Near, are estimated to cost $17.5 million, according to AdWeek. The campaign previously received funding from The Signatry, which David Green — whose company fought against the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate and waged a legal battle with a transgender employee who wished to use the women’s bathroom — admitted he helped fund. The Signatry is also known as the Servant Foundation and has donated $50 million toward the Alliance Defending Freedom, which the Southern Poverty Law Center deemed an anti-LGBTQ hate group, according to USA Today. It’s now run by a nonprofit whose CEO Ken Calwell — who served as a chief marketing officer for a Christian charity organization — once was a “top exec” at Domino’s and Wendy’s, AdWeek noted. The Green family is reportedly still involved in the campaign, as Rolling Stone magazine noted documents that show Mart Green — David’s son and Hobby Lobby’s “Ministry Investment Officer” — sits on Come Near’s board of directors. Social media users criticized the campaign’s foot-centric ad.
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