Brilliant Misdirection Play By Focus on the Family

UPDATE: N.O.W. President Terry O’Neill claims the ad is a “celebration of violence against women.”  Here’s the quote:

I am blown away at the celebration of the violence against women in it.  That’s what comes across to me even more strongly than the anti-abortion message.

Well, they did it.  CBS ran the dreaded Tim Tibow Super Bowl commercial, produced by Focus on the Family.  It’s so light, so utterly non-controversial it would not have been noticed by nearly as many viewers were it not for weeks of bellowing from pro-abortion groups

By not allowing anyone to preview the ad, Focus on the Family misdirected the perpetually outraged left.  They all ran the wrong way and made fools of themselves with hysterical warnings of dire consequences if football fans were not shielded from such a dangerous message.

Here are some brief excerpts from a very long, angry letter to CBS from Women’s Media Center (WMC.)

Focus on the Family has waged war on non-traditional families…and is now attempting to use the Super Bowl to further ramp up the vitriolic rhetoric surrounding reproductive rights…CBS is aligning itself with a political stance that will alienate viewers and discourage consumers from supporting its shows and advertisers. The decision to air this ad would be ethically, economically and politically disastrous for CBS.

The content of this ad endangers women’s health, uses sports to divide rather than to unite, and promotes an organization that opposes the equality of Americans.

So, what happened?  Nothing.  The game continued as scheduled.  Football fans didn’t run, screaming into the streets.  CBS will suffer no disaster.  But thanks to shrewd strategy by Focus on the Family, the pro-abortion left has ensured that millions more people noticed and remembered the ad and will go to the Focus website to watch the Tebow video.