However, this year, one advert in particular is causing a real storm – the ad (or ‘commercial’ as those other-side of the road, elevators and sidewalkers like to call them) is a short ad from the evangelical Christian organisation ‘Focus on the Family’, showing one of the teams’ star quarterback Tim Tebow and his mother Pam. The ad in particular focuses on Pam’s decision to ignore medical advice to have an abortion – stressing the anti-abortion message of the religious far right in America.

Aside from stirring up the obvious anti-abortion debate that’s been raging in the US for years, the affair has surprised many, and the controversy has been summed up well by Clay Travis, an author who has written extensively about Tebow:

“It’s such a flashpoint subject and I’m surprised that CBS would go there after the fuss that was caused by Janet Jackson’s nipple. It’s not even a matter of whether you’re pro-life or pro-choice, I think most people would find an advert dealing with abortion to be out of place during the Super Bowl,”

The star of the ad, Tebow, is a home-schooled son of missionaries who takes his religion seriously enough to go as far as wearing black make-up with references to biblical passages during games. He’s also repeatedly talked about his “mission”, noting that football enables him to spread “God’s word” and making it clear that his talent at the sport is secondary to his religious beliefs. Hard to see how a bastardised form of Rugby interrupted every 5 seconds for adverts enables God’s word, but He of mysterious ways etc etc.

The Superbowl has a history of being the target of controversial adverts, with advocacy groups and religious groups aiming to cash in on the wide audience to spread their messages. Previous ads that were rejected include an anti-abortion ad showing President Obama alongside the slogan ‘Life. imagine the Potential’, as well as ads by Animal rights extremists PeTA and other religious affiliations. Those ads were rejected due to the policy of CBS to refuse advertising that “touches on and/or takes a position on one side of a current controversial issue of public importance”.

This also isn’t the first time Focus on the Family Action have been in the headlines, having run an ad on its website last year calling on members to pray for “a rain of biblical proportions” during Barack Obama’s acceptance speech. The rain – biblical proportions or otherwise- didn’t come. Perhaps God’s a Democrat.