This viewer found it tame, charming in an earnest kind of way, and ultimately pro-choice–as in pro-choices about how to deal with a pregnancy, not pro-abortion rights. But a Barna Group poll of 1,000 Super Bowl viewers found that most people didn’t quite know what to make of the ad.
Nearly 80% thought it presented a positive message, but one-fifth of all viewers couldn’t say what that message was. Another 19% guessed that maybe the ad was about the importance of family. And only 14% of those who saw the ad knew that it was sponsored by Focus on the Family. Plus, Nielsen’s numbers say it was the least-watched of all 74 ads that ran during the Super Bowl.
Still, the folks at Focus can’t be feeling too bad about the money they spent: last-place still gets you more than 92 million viewers. The organization also reportedly registered 500,000 hits following the game on its web site, where videos and testimonials conveyed a more explicit anti-abortion message. Even so, Will Saletan argues in a fascinating Slate piece that some of the testimonials about problem pregnancies end up making the case for early pregnancy termination, which is often considered abortion by some in the pro-life movement.