"Jesus Confirmed Foot Freak": There Was A Jesus Foot-Washing Ad During Super Bowl LVIII, And People Were Not Into It

"If your church can afford a foot washing commercial for the Super Bowl, it should be paying taxes."

The surprise star of the opening minutes of Super Bowl LVIII? This guy.

Getty Images

During the game's first quarter, a seriously weird ad aired where people were washing each others' feet in various and seemingly incongruous settings.

He Gets Us / Via youtube.com

The ad was part of the He Gets Us campaign, which is funded by the Servant Foundation, aka the Signatry. Last year, it was reported that the Signatry donated more than $65 million to the Alliance Defending Freedom — a legal advocacy group that has, among other things, worked to curtail LGBTQIA+ rights in the US.

Regardless of your religious beliefs, the whole thing was...really strange.

He Gets Us / Via youtube.com

He Gets Us / Via youtube.com

He Gets Us / Via youtube.com

When I saw it at home, I thought the images were AI-generated — but it turns out that wasn't the case.

Initially, few of us at Ad Age thought the He Gets Us Jesus #SuperBowl ad was made with AI…it wasn’t. They are photographs shot by photographer Julia Fullerton-Batten, who has experience in the fine arts industry.

— Ad Age (@adage) February 11, 2024

Twitter: @adage

By and large, though, the internet was really confused by the whole thing:

jesus confirmed foot freak

— David Mack (@davidmackau) February 11, 2024

@davidmackau / Via Twitter: @davidmackau

If your church can afford a foot washing commercial for the Superbowl it should be pay taxes. Like a lot of taxes.

— Lee Pace's Thick Thighs (@509RhymeAnimal) February 11, 2024

@509RhymeAnimal / Via Twitter: @509RhymeAnimal

Jesus was a foot guy

— baloney ramone (@noochiez) February 11, 2024

@noochiez / Via Twitter: @noochiez

What prohibition era footwashing christianity bullshit is this

— notable head coach haver (@wrongopinionman) February 11, 2024

@wrongopinionman / Via Twitter: @wrongopinionman

That foot washing commercial pic.twitter.com/fNBynAb8gt

— matt (@TheCursedGoon) February 11, 2024

@TheCursedGoon / NBC / Via Twitter: @TheCursedGoon

I know one person who is rewatching that Jesus foot washing commercial

— Kenneth Glantz (@KMcAwsome) February 11, 2024

@KMcAwsome / Via Twitter: @KMcAwsome

Yikes. Stay safe out there! And check out all of our Super Bowl coverage here.