In between clips of Chris Pratt touting Pringles and Beyoncé promoting Verizon, Super Bowl fans may have been surprised to see images of people washing feet accompanied by Mark Wahlberg telling them to 'Get Prayed Up'.
But Christian ads - like Wahlberg's for the Catholic prayer app, Hallow - are a new mainstay of the Super Bowl advertising bonanza.
Hallow was joined by Christian campaign group, He Gets Us, which stepped up its marketing at this year's game to run two ads preaching compassion and humility.
The campaign has been slammed by viewers for spending millions on adverts - a 30-second Super Bowl slot costs $7 million before factoring in production costs - rather than giving the money to charitable initiatives.
Both Hallow and He Gets Us have big backers, with Hallow raising $50million in their latest funding round alone and He Gets Us linked to Hobby Lobby billionaire David Green.
Mark Wahlberg encouraged viewers to download the app and 'join us in prayer' - in one of the Super Bowl commercials promoting religion
The 'Foot Washing' commercial showed a series of politically-significant pairings washing each other's feet
Hallow's clip was their first ad to appear at the Super Bowl, and had a voice-over of Wahlberg reading a prayer played over scenes of families and friends coming together.
It ended with the phrase: 'Join us in prayer this lent on Hallow, stay prayed up.'
Hallow is modeled on meditation apps like Calm or Headspace with a Christian twist, with narrations of the rosary, guides on the Catholic Catechism and a plethora of Christian influencers.
CEO Alex Jones, who was raised a Catholic but left the faith in the wake of the sexual abuse scandals and then returned as an adult, has raised $105 million in funding so far, with big backers including Peter Thiel.
Jones - not Infowars' Alex Jones - refused to say how much their Super Bowl spot cost, but said it was a 'fraction' of $7 million as they only ran in 14 markets, not nationally.
While Hallow's aim with their advert was clear - to get more people to download their app - the He Gets Us campaign has a more intangible goal, claiming they just want to 'reintroduce people to the Jesus of the Bible'.
He Gets Us ran two adverts at this year's game. The first, called 'Foot Washing', was a modern take on the Biblical story of Jesus washing the 12 apostles' feet at the Last Supper as a sign of humility and selflessness.
In the 60-second clip, a series of politically-significant pairings wash each other's feet: A policeman kneels before a black man, a protester before a woman visiting a family planning clinic and a white woman before a migrant mother.
A preachers washes the feet of a man by the beach in one of the He Gets Us shots
He Gets Us declined to comment on the 'specifics of expenses' for the Super Bowl adverts, but given the going rate for a 30-second national slot was $7 million, they could have spent close to $17.5million across their two ads
It ended with the slogan: 'Jesus didn't teach hate. He washed feet' and asked: 'How would our contentious world change if people, especially those with opposing ideologies, took off their shoes and washed each other’s feet?'
The second 15-second advert, called 'Who is My Neighbor?', showed photos of 'those we don’t notice, value, or welcome' including a homeless woman and a man working in a shop and asked 'what if we... treated them accordingly?'
He Gets Us declined to comment on the 'specifics of expenses' for the adverts, but given the going rate for a 30-second national slot was $7 million, they could have spent close to $17.5million across their two ads.
That is before factoring in the cost of hiring actors and production.
Not everyone was impressed by the spending, with one viewer writing: 'You do realize that Jesus, the one I've known all my life, would not approve of commercialized "glorification" Super Bowl commercials costing millions of dollars. money that could be used to actually help those in need.'
He Gets Us was started by the Servant Foundation in 2022, but this year changed hands and is now managed by the newly formed nonprofit, Come Near.
The Servant Foundation came under fire in recent years for donating $50 million to the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).
The ADF was listed as an anti-LGBTQ hate group in 2016 by the Southern Poverty Law Center for their support of criminalizing homosexuality.
He Gets Us has since distanced themselves from the charity, saying on their site: 'Let us be clear in our opinion. Jesus loves gay people and Jesus loves trans people.'
The new managers, nonprofit Come Near, doesn't yet have a website, but according to its Linkedin page, its CEO is Ken Calwell, a former Wendy's and Domino's Pizza executive.
Last year, Hobby Lobby founder and billionaire David Green - whose father was a preacher - announced his family was helping fund the He Gets Us adverts.
Green is a controversial figure and is known for his vocal support of pro-life and anti-LGBTQ policies. The craft chain made headlines in 2012 for suing the US government for the right to deny contraceptive coverage to employees.
Then, in 2017, federal prosecutors found Hobby Lobby had illegally smuggled rare and stolen religious artifacts into the US for their private collection.
A spokesperson for He Gets Us said: 'While we may use different words or methods than others, we hope that our messages and experiences compel people to be curious and explore Jesus’ story.
'There are many great organizations and nonprofits serving our vulnerable neighbors and we encourage those who want to support directly to learn more or make a gift to an organization serving their neighbors.
'Our intent with He Gets Us is to connect with more and more people in moments and at events that provide the opportunity to see and experience Jesus’ love.'
In one scene from the He Gets Us ad, a woman washed a migrant mother's feet while she cradled a baby
In one still, a woman washed a classmate's feet in a school hallway
CEO of Hallow Jones defended the ad and the use of money to make sure it was seen by more than 100 million people.
'When we found out the Super Bowl was going to fall on the Sunday immediately before Ash Wednesday, which only happens once every ten years or so, we were thrilled at the idea of using it as an opportunity to invite people into prayer, especially to reach out to those who are the hardest to reach, folks who might never otherwise have tried to pray.
'We’ve been blown away by the responses to the spot. We’ve heard from many who were inspired to join us and give prayer a try for the first time in a long time this Lent.
'We believe strongly in the importance of donating to charity and the impact of charity work. We also believe that, through leading with prayer, God might inspire us all to radical charity and generosity in greater ways than we could ever imagine.
