Evangelicals love Tim Tebow so they love his mom by proxy. She’s like the evangelical Virgin Mary. Focus on the Family took out a Super Bowl ad in which Tim’s mom explains she almost lost him. The story goes that doctors advised her to get an abortion but she didn’t, and now look at him! The non-aborted Tim grew up to win the Heisman trophy. The ad closes with the tag line “Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life” and you are left kind of wanting into that family.

 

But since not every evangelical family can produce a star athlete like the ad shows, it would be an interesting twist for Focus on the Family to create some more “Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life” ads that show more typical evangelical families who chose not to abort their kids. Here are some ideas to pitch to FOTF’s agency. Picture the storyboards! A conservative Eddie Bauer-clad couple in their fifties speak solemnly about how glad they are they chose not to abort their now-grown son who dropped out of junior college but still lives at home and has a gaming addiction. It could show a little candid moment where he promises he’ll go to church with them if they promise not to shut off the internet. How many evangelical families like that are out there? Way more than the Tebow family. Or! A similar couple could talk about how glad they are that they chose not to abort their daughter who grew up to get pregnant at age 18. It could show that she married the baby’s 19 yr old father under pressure from the evangelical parents and then it could depict how quickly the marriage fell apart and how the parents are helping raise the grandbaby who lives with them. How many thousands of evangelical families have this story? Millions? Or! A conservative older couple could tell how they didn’t abort their son from whom they’re now estranged because he is gay, and that they love him so much they are standing up to this sinful lifestyle that Satan has tricked him into. This might be the most common evangelical family of them all. 

 

Celebrate family, celebrate life!