Plenty of potential Super Bowl ads are seemingly made to be rejected. Why? 30-second spots during the broadcast are going for $3 million, and once an ad is nixed it gets plenty of free publicity (See: "Is Doritos Mocking Christians?"). But usually, as Politics Daily's David Gibson
observes, the majority of ads being waved away are done so for inappropriate or racy content. The latest spot to be rejected by Fox broadcasting was done so for "advancing particular beliefs or practices," which is against company policy.
The ad, which was produced by the Fixed Point Foundation, showcases a group of guys who wouldn't be out of place in a beer commercial gathered around a big screen yelling at the TV during a football game. After a close-up of John 3:16 is flashed onscreen, they wonder what the verse means and use a smart phone to look it up. That's it. Gibson explains that Fox likely blocked the ad to avoid "the wrong kind of controversy," but hedges by noting "it's hard to see how a commercial whose only religious reference is a brief shot of a player's eye black and 'John 3:16' could offend an audience of sports fans."
Here's the 3:16 ad and, for reference, the Doritos spot:
