Focus Paying For Super Bowl Ad Months After Layoffs

By Marshall Zelingerm.zelinger@krdo.comFollowme on Twitter at www.twitter.com/mzelinger

COLORADO SPRINGS – There will be a Colorado Springs connection in the Super Bowl. Focus on the Family will air a 30-second ad during the Super Bowl. No one at Focus on the Family would confirm the cost of the ad, but 30-seconds are expected to cost around $2.5 million.

NEWSCHANNEL 13: “How are you guys paying for this?”

“You know, we’ve very fortunate that a handful of very generous and committed friends of the ministry have given all of the money for the air time for this ad, which means we don’t have to take money out of our general fund,” said Focus on the Family Vice President of Media Relations Gary Schneeberger.

NEWSCHANNEL 13: “How long have you known you’re going to be doing this commercial?”

“We’ve been kicking the idea around for the last three to four months probably,” said Schneeberger.

Focus on the Family laid off more than 200 employees since November 2008, including 75 employees in September.

NEWSCHANNEL 13: “If this has been in the work for a few months…why not tell the people donating this money, ‘how about you donate the money and we don’t layoff employees instead?'”

“One of the things about those who work at Focus is really, it’s more than a job it’s a calling, and one of the things that we did in that staff reduction was look at ways to improve our efficiencies,” said Schneeberger. “I don’t know if there’s a designated way to say I want that to go to employee salaries, but the general fund is where employee salaries come from.”

NEWSCHANNEL 13: “Should any of those former employees think any different that their jobs could have been saved by someone donating to the extent of $2.5 million to Focus on the Family for jobs and for paying salaries, instead of for a Super Bowl ad?”

“I can’t really speak for what the employees who were affected by that situation would say,” said Schneeberger.

Focus on the Family won’t confirm the content of the ad, but has revealed it stars Florida Heisman Trophy quarterback and soon to be NFL player Tim Tebow. The ad was shot in Orlando with Tebow and his mom last Tuesday.

“I can tell you that it is an inspirational story from the Tebows, a personal story, as much as we can fit in, in 30 seconds,” said Schneeberger. “But, we’re trying to keep a little bit of mystery about it, in terms of the exact content.”

Before Tebow was born, his mom Pam was advised by a doctor to have an abortion because of an illness. She now speaks out against abortion.

“We’re not trying to sell you a car, we’re not trying to sell you a soft drink, we’re not trying to sell you an Internet domain name, we’re not trying to sell anything, we’re trying to celebrate family,” said Schneeberger. “We’re not trying to make a profit, we’re not trying to sell a product, we’re trying to inspire and offer assistance to people. The ad itself, in no way, shape or form is political.”

The night the ad was shot, a 7.0 earthquake hit Haiti. On its website and radio program, Focus on the Family has suggested organizations you can donate to, to help in relief efforts.

NEWSCHANNEL 13: “Has there been any discussion to pull back some of the expense of a Super Bowl ad and divert any of those resources to Haiti?”

“We’re contractually obligated with CBS for the ad for the last couple of months,” said Schneeberger. “We’re not an international relief agency, that’s not our infrastructure or our equipment.”

The Super Bowl is on February 7th.