The only celebrity bigger than Taylor Swift will be joining her in promoting the Super Bowl.
That’s right: Jesus Christ is coming to Super Bowl LVIII.
A popular Catholic prayer app called Hallow is hoping a costly advertisement during the Super Bowl will result in millions of bowed heads and clasped hands during the February 11th showdown between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers.
The full price tag of Hallow’s ad is unknown, but the average cost of a 30-second ad for Super Bowl LVIII is around $7 million – so it's safe to say it won't be cheap.
Although some support using the funds to spread the word about online prayer, others argue the money could be better spent elsewhere.
Is the future of faith digital? And does Jesus need a million dollar advertising campaign?
Likes and Prayers
Hallow is the most popular Christian prayer app on the marketplace. For a cost of just $9.99/month, you can join a community that’s submitted over 100 million online prayers, and counting.
The app prompts users to pray every day through guided 5-60 minute recorded meditations, even allowing them to set background noises including "gentle rain" and "Gregorian chanting" – personalization that it says brings the experience to the next level and allows users to “pray their own way.”
Now, Hallow is hoping to tap into a new audience: football fans. They recently announced that a 30-second Hallow ad – starring Mark Wahlberg and Jonathan Roumie – will air just before the halftime show during Super Bowl LVIII.
The ad will air in some 15 markets, constituting nearly half of the more than 100 million anticipated Super Bowl viewers. The whole thing is under wraps for now, but you can view a teaser below:
Jesus Christ, Influencer?
This isn’t the first Jesus-centric marketing campaign to air during the Super Bowl in recent years.
In 2022, a group called He Gets Us launched a $100 million marketing blitz for Jesus Christ, including prominent spots during that year's Super Bowl.
That continued in this year's Super Bowl with a memorable ad depicting the washing of feet:
The idea that Jesus Christ – arguably the most recognizable person in human history – needs an advertising campaign struck some as silly. Others pondered why millions of dollars were going towards marketing Jesus, when that money could be going to more pressing causes, such as helping the needy.
Meanwhile, other Christians saw the ad as heretical:
The Future of Prayer
Hallow is a business, of course – and clearly they're hoping the investment will bring more prayer-makers to the app. But once again, some critics are balking at the idea of a faith group spending millions on advertising when there are so many people in need in their own communities.
And yet… what if the future of faith really is online? After all, we live in a world where TikTok videos translating Bible verses into Gen-Z slang get millions of views, AI Jesus is streaming on Twitch, and there are hundreds (if not thousands) of Bible apps on phones and tablets.
With that in mind, clearly the folks at Hallow see this Super Bowl as a major opportunity to expand Christian worship in the age of the internet.
Where do you stand? Is this multi-million dollar advertisement a frivolous expense, or a smart move to keep prayer on people's minds – and at their fingertips?
71 comments
-
David Sanchez jr 2
Kill all the crown angels and theyre summoners.Book of enoch is modern day warfare.
-
Karen J. Cook
In 1972 Bobby Bare released a song titled. “Drop kick me Jesus” check it out it refers to football, it was released around Vietnam war.
-
William Vasiliou
If one is a true Christian attend your local parish and ask for forgiveness. Why pay $10 a month to a prayer chat room when you can give that money to your local food bank, women's shelter, help the homeless or organizations who help those in need with meals, clothing and shelter. What a waste of financial resources!
-
Janet Kay Seiler
Welp. From perusing the comments I feel like that part of the Sunday School lesson I learned "Judge not, lest ye be judged" has been forgotten by some of my co-persons, no?
-
Catherine
@Janet Kay Seiler
Would Jesus be okay with exploiting ignorance or weakness in others, especially for profit? That's seems like a reasonable yardstick.
-
-
Rev. J. Blaine
Let's hope it comes with evidence that prayer actually works, and I'm sure that the money wouldn't be better spent on a little water and food to help the 26,000 people that will die from starvation (each day) on the day of the Superbowl. I wonder if a prayer app will help them... Of course, everyone knows the priority #1 of Christianity is to stop the century long decline of its subscribers. I'll pray for them.
-
Patti Anne Lisenbee
you gotta spend money to make money, right? That's all this is about, to get people to spend more money on their app! watch the price go up after this. Hell, if i knew how to set up and app to draw people in and all I have to do is put on music or chants or meditations, I'd do it. That's all modern Catholicism is about nowadays, and most modern religious right, is making money off the lower class. That's all it's about. MONEY. Don't like what I said? PRAY for me to stop!
-
Rev Ned
Feed the poor? Welcome refugees? Nah! Let’s spend mega bucks to promote mega churches! We need more people to PTL! PASS THE LOOT!!!
-
Lester Stanley Petrie
If that's what you believe 😄
-
Robert Louis Rada
My wife offers up $5 every Sunday to the Catholic Church. I was raised Mormon, baptized Catholic in’96. 10% in tithing is in the Bible. Somebody is getting short changed. Don’t fear 10% tithing. The blessings will come.
-
Guy E. Sanders Jr
There are people struggling to make a living wage, there are homeless in the streets, people are living without health insurance, but, hey, let's drop a million or to for an app to pray. The church might want to consider using that cash to compensate the victims of all those pedophile priests they kept shuffling around, and maybe to see that they are arrested and prosecuted. I'm sure that God isn't sitting by his laptop waiting for people to use that app to talk to him.
-
Susan Feldman
Whether it is God, the Goddess, the Universe, Allah, or Buddha, each individual should decide for themselves, who they want to pray to or if they want to worship any deity at all. - While I personally believe that the money being spent on this advertising campaign could better be spent elsewhere, if the people behind a particular belief want to utilize their funds on an app to try to reach followers then so be it. - Live and Let Live! … And Buyer Beware.
-
Scott MacArthur
It’s hard to believe that $7 million dollars spent advertising an app, won’t net the company a boost in profits even if short term.
But wait, those profits will surely be used to help those less fortunate.
(SMH)Does the newest generation really need an app for everything?
I fear for my grandchildren’s future.
-
Wayne Edward Kilmer
I don’t worship the image of Jesus but the sacrifice and salvation HE gifted us. I don’t use an app for praying. Praying should be simple and from the heart, after all GOD knows what we want and even better what we need. If an app starts one soul on a path that leads to GOD isn’t that good. Making money isn’t bad, the more you have the more you can give but wealth comes with temptation. I am a free market capitalist “Goods and services provided at a fair market value and a fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work “ of course crony capitalism can creep in “anything for a profit “ The Super Bowl- who knows maybe Jesus likes watching football. Accept the salvation that HIS sacrifice has gifted us and love GOD with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.
-
Steven Ferrell
We all know it does take money to operate churches, etc. but things like this only tend to give the church a bad name.
-
Steven Ferrell
We all know it does take money to operate churches, etc. but things like this only tend to give the church a bad name.
-
Christy Wilkinson
It is a most blasphemous thing, dedicated to Mammon. I have not watched a television in over a decade, and when I did it was for banal entertainment. To get ensnared by the internet and devote ones majority of time to it is definitely not good for the soul, so I limit my time with that one too. It is better to interact with pure creation, the land, plants and animals, and to give kindness to human beings in person.
-
Lawrence A. Benson
No, No, and No, again. How would church officials feel if sports teams brought in cheerleading squads to do cheers durning their sermons. That being said, I'm sure the money spent on this fiasco could be used elsewhere to feed the hungry.
-
Paul Andrew Breda
Someone is simply capitalizing on all the free marketing for Jesus - coaches and players thanking their "lord and savior Jesus Christ" for evidently delivering on their prayers for gridiron greatness. Of course, that only serves to trivialize faith. But if it's working for our sports heros, who wouldn't fork over $9.99 a month?
-
Susan Erlewine
No wonder people are leaving the church in droves.
-
Jannetje Eleanore Van Went
They said clearly, it's a business, it owns the right to do what other businesses do. If we start picking apart our economy we won't have one. Honestly is all that is important here they are a business and if they get people to pray more, it's because the people want to.
-
Rolando Couce
NO BELIEF IN GOD ANYMORE IT IS ALL ABOUT THE MONEY HUMAMS ARE PIECES OF CRAP
-
William Lewis Vass
It's always been about money. Realistically the proof lies within the pages of the bible itself. What is this you may ask? Well, I'm glad you asked. I'm talking about tithes. You have to take 10% of the money you earn, after the government takes it's cut, and give it to the church. That's good old fashioned extortion. You must pay us, (the church), to reserve your place in a fairytale land called heaven. The only people who are benefiting from this is the church. A place where it costs you for sitting in a pew. The church uses fear tactics to draw people in and then they start draining your bank account. Tithes is not the only money making scheme. There's also the offering plate that gets passed around. Oh and lest we forget, the special offerings. So when you talk about it being all about the money you are talking about your beliefs and practices.
-
Catherine
Same as charging people for air, isn't it?
-
-
Catherine
@Rolando Couce
I think most humans are decent. I think we each need to maintain more faith in ourselves and our ability to improve our corner of the world, while keeping a realistic eye open to watch for pitfalls created by the lesser percentage of less-than-decent humans.
This app is one of those pitfalls. Some will see that for what it is. Some will need more time to see what is obvious to the rest of us.
-
-
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Calm down. It isn't for the Lord", like every other downloaded app, it'll track your browser use, your bookmarks, your IP address, your geo location and probably everything else about you.
There are no "free" apps to download. It's there for one purpose...data mining your personal info for marketing. They're all data mining apps.
-
Catherine
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Nailed it.
-
Catherine
Collecting prayers as fodder for extortion is also a possibility.
-
-
David Arthur Lewis
This is just a 21st century twist on the old collection plate. The preacher says "Give me money and I'll talk to God for you". The app says "Give me money and I'll talk to God for you". No one needs an intermediary to pray. God speaks directly to human hearts, if we simply stop talking and LISTEN to that "still, small voice" that speaks through the silence.
-
Lester Stanley Petrie
You've got that right!
-
-
Colleen McAllister
What bothers me here is not advertising Jesus. Or prayer. Or even spending the money to do so. What bothers me is that this commercial is to advertise an app that will help your prayer life for a monthly fee. If you feel the need for an app to remind you to pray, then you truly do need help. Prayer is communication with God and involves faith. No app is going to help you. All this will do is turn your trust away from God and have you rely on an electronic device.
Want a better prayer life? Turn off your phone and simply talk to God.
-
Pamela Vonbacho Ploof
Amen!
-
Rev Wayne Steven
Iam thinking the same thing. We all to recall what beleving to God is about.FATH, LOVE,not being rich..For tje sake of God and yourself JUST PRAY ...
-
James Mounts
Given that one of Jesus's followers felt the need to ask Him how to pray, it should be no surprise that some people may have difficulty forming thoughts and words to say to God. Go read the sermon on the mount, and lighten up.
-
Lionheart
Yes, you don’t need an app to listen to imaginary voices in your head, or even talk to yourself, all under the impression the personage in your head is real. People have been doing this since treating the Sun as a deity. Even Jesus spoke to himself. It’s a psychological condition most religionists convince themselves is normal. No app is necessary.
🦁❤️
-
-
pjm
"But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." - Jesus (Matthew 6:6)
That kind of puts the kibosh on a "prayer app."
-
Stacey Owens
Now prayer is merchandise. Yod-He-Vau-He is with in, why pray in a app and pay money. It don't cost no one to pray. As it is written, God knows your prayer ever before you ask, this is why we thank Him for answering our prayers.
-
Lionheart
It all smacks of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow’s, which I prefer anyway than the Jesus praying Hallow app.
The Deathly Hallows are three magical objects – the Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone, and the Cloak of Invisibility. When owned by one person, they are said to give mastery over death. These are great mythical stories, just like the Bible.
🦁❤️
-
Matthew Mastrogiovanni
A prayer app? Talk about removing spirituality from prayer.
-
Dr. Zerpersande, NSC
Is there a problem with prayer hacking that I don’t know about? This sounds a bit lije a VPN server for prayers and hacking security os their main purpose. Or maybe Mr. Magic and the Jewish Zombie are more likely to answer prayers from a given region or country and users can reroute their prayers? Given the Netflix sometimes catches me using a proxy to access the US region I’m guessing Mr. M will catch on to the plot.
-
Tareq Asfour
Faith became a joke in America, what a shame…
-
Rev. Dr. Father JJ
well we finally have world peace, cancer has been cured, babies aren't dying from treatable diseases or malnutrition, no one is homeless anymore, global change has been rectified, we have free, renewable energy and everyone gets a livable wage so those 225 million recorded prayers have finally done some good. praise cheeses, la mamma dei cretini e sempre incinta
-
Alexander Clarke
Thank you for the smile of the day!
-
-
David George Promis
Which religion isn’t about money they collect but don’t use on direct services for the needy?
-
James Riggle-Johnson
Capitalism at its best, and why not? Personally, I continue to pray for free.
-
Brien
I'm trying to care how zealots wish to waste money, honestly I don't. In my opinion they aren't the sharpest tools in the shed anyway.
-
Dr. Zerpersande, NSC
Same here. But the stupidity behind the app annoys me in the same manner as any of the stupidity in the world.
-
Alexander Clarke
Just more proof that there is no limit to human stupidity.
-
Scott MacArthur
Are you referring to the App maker? Or those who pay $9.99 a month to pray?
SMH not at your comment, at the app.
-
Dr. Zerpersande, NSC
The app maker could possibly be just cashing in in religious stupidity.
-
-
-
-
Melaine Rae Thompson
I don’t think they are even zealots. I think they just found a way to make money with an app and are trying to get more subscribers to make even more money. They have to have a major bottom line to afford the add. Zealot or just greedy?
-
-
Alexander Arends
I am ashamed, that's all I can say.
-
Rev. Elizabeth
🤷🏼♀️ ??
-
-
Rev. Rory
Jesus goes capitalist. Whatever. I have a website that offers lots of information and inspiration - for free. I've maintained it for 7 years. I take questions and give answers. For free. I just renewed the domain today for another 3 years. There are no ads on my site. It's modern, easy to navigate and I am the webmaster and control all of the content but welcome submissions from the like-minded as well as those that don't agree. For free. It is my mission to spread goodwill and love. For free. Spirituality for dollars is not a new idea. Everything is about money, isn't it? Anyone that feels that they need Jesus in their pocket on a cell phone for $9.99 a month probably needs that sense of security, but again, my site, also mobile, is free. So why am I not directing you there? Because all of my work is face to face and the website/app are complimentary. I am not a corporation. I am not spiritual for the money. That's just me.
God Bless, everyone!-
Pamela Rose Hayes
This is the equivalent of the tables in the Temple that Jesus turned over!
-
-
Nicholas J Page
Would not use a prayer app or anything other than the biggest selling book globally The Bible.
-
Rev. Dr. Father JJ
Fiction is almost always a good seller and a good reading choice as well.
-
His Holiness Doctor C.
No kidding! The Bible is the biggest selling book globally? Well I'll be hornswoggled! And here's me thinking it was 'Full Disclosure' by everyone's favourite Christian, Stormy Daniels.
-
-
Joy
Hey free enterprise. If they want to spend their money on an add, so be it. I'd rather they spend it where there is an actual need for money and/or help. But I am not the boss of other people's money.
-
Catherine
Jesus looks very white. A representation of most sport team owners and investors? Or founders of the app? Ignorance of the app's founders?
A founder of Hallow, Alex Jones, conveniently found God (again) after finding a way to profit from God.
Numerous sources debate how the names Jesus, God, Christ, etcetera, are taken in vain. If hell were real, a few someones would have a short trip.
What would Jesus say?
-
Rev. Dr. Father JJ
different Alex Jones (if the one you're thinking of is the horrific conservative radio a hole)
-
ServantOfJudgement
Naw Catherine, that's just a picture the author used to reinforce knee jerk anti christian stereotypes and get a rise from folks like Tareq Asfour.
Two birds with one stone.
-
-
Daniel Gray
And? So what.
-
Tareq Asfour
Comment removed by user.
-
Tareq Asfour
What do you mean by saying so what ? Doesn’t it anger you as being a faithful minister as rest of us here ?
-
Daniel Gray
How would it anger me if it brings more people to the Church? Isnt that what we are supposed to be doing?
-
David George Promis
You don’t have the right to ask why a person isn’t zealous like yourself about a topic….that’s just narcissistic! Never attempt to shame or guilt someone into your way of thinking 🤔
-
Dr. Zerpersande, NSC
Never say never.
-
David George Promis
On this matter Never is the correct Adverb to use, for shame is the tool of a narcissistic person who demands attention and obedience which is NEVER right 😞
-
Dr. Zerpersande, NSC
You’ve jumped on the Anti-Shame apparently, and it’s just a world view, an opinion.
Funny enough, what you are doing is trying to shame someone into following your world view, something you just said should never be done.
How about a judge that declares a defendant to be shameful when said defendant has been abducting, raping and killing children? Does that deserve shame?
Never say never.
-
-
-
-
Rev. Elizabeth
??? 🤷🏼♀️
-
-
1-800-Now-Pray Silent Unity’s FREE prayer ministry. And there’s an AP for FREE Over 125 years continuous prayer I’ll send them my donation.