So the Saints went marching in to Miami, and now they are Super Bowl champions.  But despite their miraculous win over the Colts, let’s be honest…this Bowl was all about the commercials.  So did the Tebow/Focus on the Family ad live up to the hype?

Meh.

To be fair, there was a LOT of hype to live up to, as opinions on the ad were divided and heated. According to Rassmussen, less that half of the people surveyed agreed with CBS’s decision to run the FoF ad during the Super Bowl (Of course, the anti-choice community found their own polling to claim everyone was supportive of the ad).  The Washington Post dedicated their letters section to debating the merits of even debating the commercial. 

Personally, I didn’t really notice the commercial.  I spent the first 10 seconds trying to figure out what Mary Steenburgen was promoting. Once I figured out that it was in fact that infamous Tim Tebow ad, I was trying to decide why he was tacking him mom, since he’s a quarterback and that’s not really his thing.  Maybe she was too heavy to throw?  Next thing I knew, it was done, and there was another Doritos ad running.

The LA Times agrees: a whole lot of noise for nothing.

Boy tackles mom. That was about it.

The ad that
made former Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow and his mother, Pam,
the unintended stars of Super Bowl XLIV was not a screed against
abortion.

Nor was it a heartwarming story about a mother ignoring
doctors’ advice and having her baby.

It was, instead, a lighthearted take on a mother-son relationship.

Of course, the ad was benign because of the controversy. FoF also ran their "pre-game" ads, the one that CBS refused to run during the game because of their controversial nature.  

The
second commercial plans to go further than the first and will reveal
more details about Pam
Tebow’s decision not to have an abortion than CBS would allow
in the first ad already planned for during the Super Bowl.

This
Super Bowl surprise has Focus unveiling a second ad that will also
feature him Tebow and his mother and it was filmed in Orlando at the
same time last month as the ad that has garnered so much attention.

Focus
on the Family won’t reveal the details of this surprise second ad,
but CEO Jim Daly confirmed to USA Today that this ad goes further
and it appears to be the original ad CBS rejected before it worked
with the station on a revised commercial fitting its standards.

In the end, I suppose Focus on the Family feels good, because their "brilliant marketing strategy" got them approximately $10 million in media mentions for about $3 million dollars.  And thanks to efforts like "Tailgate for Choice," many pro-choice groups got to reap some financial benefit as well. I doubt anyone changed their stance on choice based on what actually occurred on the screen.

But the biggest victory is likely Tim Tebow’s.  Odds are that is the only Super Bowl performance he’s ever going to make.

Mini Roundup: Some folks are calling Planned Parenthood’s video response to the Tebow ad racist.  This coming from people who make billboards calling African American children a "species."