Super Bowl Ad Research: New Barna Study Examines Tebow/Focus Commercial

One of the great American pastimes is playing “armchair quarterback” in the days following the Super Bowl – assessing the big plays and analyzing the prominent advertisements. A new nationwide Barna Group study explored one such high-profile television spot: the Super Bowl ad sponsored by Focus on the Family, featuring college quarterback Tim Tebow and his mother Pam discussing his survival from a difficult pregnancy.

The nationwide telephone interviews with 1,001 adults were conducted from February 7 through February 10, 2010, including interviews on the evening the Super Bowl Tebow-Focus commercial aired.

The Focus-Tebow commercial generated consistent levels of viewership across a variety of demographic segments, reflecting the broad appeal of the Super Bowl. For instance, among those who believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases, 25% viewed the commercial on Super Bowl Sunday. That proportion was just slightly higher (30%) among those who believe abortion should be illegal in all or most instances.

Similarly, there was statistically no difference in viewership between evangelicals (29%), all born again Christians (28%), and non-born again adults (26%). The ad was equally viewed among residents of the major regions of the country, across various generations, and among diverse family types. The only significant penetration gaps occurred between men and women (34% versus 20% in total ad recall), between white viewers and black viewers (28% versus 18%), between upscale and downscale adults (41% versus 22%), and between born again Republicans and born again Democrats (36% versus 24%).

Further reflecting the confusion on the part of many viewers, alternative interpretations of the commercial included: reminding people that miracles happen and Tim Tebow was a miracle baby (9%); stressing the importance of the parent-child relationship (5%); asking people to visit the sponsor’s website (2%); or helping people think about healthcare issues (1%). In addition, another 7% identified some other type of primary message.

The sponsor of the commercial was also a mystery to most viewers. Just 14% of those who viewed the commercial accurately identified Focus on the Family as the organization behind the advertisement. In total, 6% mentioned some other organization or group, while 3% identified the name of the campaign, Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life. Most viewers (78%) admitted they were not sure who sponsored the spot featuring the Heisman-winning Tebow.

Half said they thought the Focus-Tebow commercial was intended to influence their views on abortion (51%), a reflection of the pre-game controversy over the expected content more than a reaction to the message that viewers of the spot actually took away after watching it. Small proportions of viewers of the ad claimed that the commercial was offensive (8%) or that the commercial personally caused them to reconsider their opinion about abortion (6%).

Surprisingly, whether a person is pro-life or pro-choice made only minimal difference in their reactions to the commercial. The only striking differential between the two groups was that 82% of those in the pro-life group felt it was appropriate for the Super Bowl, compared with just 66% among those who believe abortion should be legal in most or all cases. Despite this gap, among those who favor pro-choice policies the commercial was received favorably: three-quarters said it presented a positive message to viewers (78%), two-thirds felt it was appropriate (66%), and just one-tenth felt it was offensive (10%). While most pro-choice adults claimed to understand that it was intended to influence their views on abortion (57%), just 4% of this segment said it caused them to reconsider their opinions about abortion.

AMERICANS’ RESPONSE TO THE FOCUS-TEBOW SUPER BOWL SPOT

“The downside from the standpoint of the commercial’s sponsors is sure to be that the main message and organization behind the ad were lost to a majority of viewers. In this respect, even if Focus simply were trying to reach a wider audience of pro-life Christians through the power of the NFL’s super-sized audience, most viewers never made the connection to the Focus organization. Perhaps this comes from misunderstanding the fact that many evangelical ministry leaders and organizations are comparatively unknown to the broader population. If anything, the ad shows the power of mainstream celebrities, like Tim Tebow, to garner attention and the related challenge for evangelical groups to get on people’s radar.” (See previous Barna research on awareness of leaders.)

“Still, the decision by Focus to create and place the ad – and the controversial choice by CBS to air the commercial – made this a unique event. Faith and values intersected mainstream culture in a significant new way. As American culture becomes more polarized and fragmented into various ideological camps and ‘faith tribes,’ finding ways for these groups to interact in respectful and productive ways will become more complicated and perhaps less frequent. ‘Soft’ efforts such as the Tebow-Focus ad may set a standard for tribes to consider as they contemplate future opportunities.”