CBS has approved the Focus On The Family advertisement with Tim Tebow and his mother Pam.
"We have for some time moderated our approach to advocacy submissions after it became apparent that our stance did not reflect public sentiment or industry norms," CBS spokesman Dana McClintock said. "In fact, most media outlets have accepted advocacy ads for some time."
As for any backlash, it's on the way. (Although, after about 10 minutes, it will fizzle out. Liberals have never been very well organized.) It should be noted that CBS is making this decision, so it does not necessarily mean Pat Robertson, NOW, the NRA, or GLAAD will start showing Super Bowl commercials every year. It does open up that possibility however. It is entirely possible that CBS is in a world of hurt, considering it shot down three liberal groups the last time they showed the Super Bowl. It is possible those groups come back and demand air time.
It's also entirely possible that the commercial is incredibly tame, compared to a lot of the rhetoric Focus On The Family and founder Dr. James Dobson normally uses. But there lies another problem for young Tebow. As I said last week, Tebow is now the public face of an organization that has the support of 30% of the voting public, but everyone else thinks they are off-base. Maybe Tebow is as blood red conservative as Focus On The Family is. But that doesn't help his future earning potential, especially when people are increasingly independent purple.
Even if I agree with Tebow on some issues, I can't help but thinking that Focus On The Family is taking advantage of Tebow. When the crap storm comes, Tebow will be the one without an umbrella and Focus can rake in the cash just in time to fund candidates in November. Focus On The Family using Tebow hurts Tebow's impact on other more worthy charities like his own charities or his father's. The people swayed by Tebow to give will send their cash to a political organization, not organizations that only help people.
This season, I thought Tebow took too much on himself and this is no different. It's one thing to have scouts watching your feet and quizzing you on coverages. It is something else to become a political advocate and losing as many fans as you win. I don't subscribe to the theory that Tim Tebow can do anything, because all of us have limits. This stuff isn't easy, otherwise everyone would do it. Tebow has never done it the easy way, so maybe he spends his off days in the pros delivering babies and speaking about the value of abstinence.
I sort of mentioned this at the bottom of the "Evil Tim Tebow" email yesterday, but we shouldn't get wound up over the political or social implications behind Tebow's ad. Politics are personal and as a wise man said, if someone is going to be swayed by Tim Tebow, they were never solid in their beliefs. You can be upset that Tebow will be interrupting your football, or that he needs to practice more, or had to pair up with Focus On The Family. But don't be upset with his opinion.