What did you think of this year's Atheist Super Bowl ad?

That was great. I don’t know what “we go one god further” is supposed to mean, though.

@glacial How about this sermon from Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson as an answer to that?

It has me cheering right along until it gets to the very end: ”...the one thing that’s true is the power of logic”.

Here’s what Max Planck had to say about that: ””... we are always being brought face to face with the irrational. Else we couldn’t have faith. And if we did not have faith but could solve every puzzle in life by an application of the human reason, what an unbearable burden life would be. We should have no art, no music and no wonderment. And we should have no science; not only because science would thereby lose its chief attraction for its own followers – namely the pursuit of the unknowable – but also because science would lose the cornerstone of its own structure, which is the direct perception by consciousness of the existence of external reality….”

@thorninmud One thing about making programming to run for freethinkers. They are an extremely tough crowd to please.

@ETpro Very true :)

Ouch. I’m see a video that’s bursting at the seams with marketing/psychology that is intended to bypass logic altogether. I don’t like it when it’s done with the intent at convincing me to support a ballot initiative or buy a type of toothpaste, and I don’t like it when it’s using the same techniques to convince people of something I support. Reminds me of this.

Atheism – Now with 20% extra soundbite! buy now.

What exactly is the Atheist Super Bowl? ~

Great ad, but i too didn’t really understand the ‘we go one god further’ part.
Unless it means the only god worth worshiping is your inner self.

^^ re: “one god further” – Dawkins, among others, has used this…

“An atheist is just somebody who feels about Yahweh the way any decent Christian feels about Thor or Baal or the golden calf. As has been said before, we are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further.”

Frankly I think it is stupid.

#1) It is hypocritical. I believe it is exactly the opposite of what atheists usually say they don’t like about theists in media and schools etc.

#2) “We go one God further” lmfao! No you don’t!
Atheism=The theory or belief that God does not exist. So no you don’t actually go any further than God because you don’t believe in Him so your theory stopped there and you started somewhere else but it wasn’t with God or a God. Wtf.

#3) That’s the power of logic.

Must be a scientology commercial :/

@tom_g makes perfect sense now, thank you.

It was attractive subversive and in direct opposition to freethinkers. It even deigned to label the “nonlabeler’s”.

In my estimation it was typical crap.

It belongs in the Superbowl as much as any other company or organization who pays the big bucks can belong in a Superbowl.

Rarely do I hear of any profit driven enterprise, a profitable one at that turning away money unless there is an opportunity to make more.

It might have been good for people who live in communities where they are ostracized for not believing what everyone else does. Beyond that, all I saw was a giant waste of money like every other Super Bowl commercial.

@nofurbelowsbatgirl Atheists who believe there is no possibility of a god are actually rare. Most think the possibility of a god to exist just to be infinitesimally small and not worth considering without some proof. So it is the dismissing of one more god than most people through lack of evidence.

Trying to sell reason through emotion. I object to the selling, I object to the lack of reasoning and I object to the manipulation of my emotions. Otherwise fine.

I think part of the point of the style of the ad is that atheists have emotion. And of course we do! What is wrong with appealing to emotion in an ad, even if it is an ad about reason? Would this have been a better ad if it featured a man in a lab coat and glasses, lecturing to the audience in a monotone?

The point is not to make the complete case for atheism in this video. It’s to show sides of atheists that are real but not obvious to outsiders. It’s saying “Have a look at this. You might not have thought that this is for you – but it could be.”

@amujinx  
”Atheists who believe there is no possibility of a god are actually rare.”

Then maybe they aren’t atheists OR the meaning of the word needs to be changed, because if it is as rare as you say then the label “athiest” as in the theory or belief that God does not exist is the wrong label and therefore the wrong meaning to be calling a group of people who just want more evidence. Because if someone wants evidence and they already believe that something doesn’t “exist” then they obviously already believe there is no proof. What you are describing is an agnostic person.

@nofurbelowsbatgirl Yes, what he is describing is an agnostic atheist. It’s a thing.

Production wise, it’s not that great.
But it could have been worse, I suppose.

I’m happy that it’s being promoted, I just wish it was higher quality workmanship.

“we go one god further” = so sad.
Why didn’t they just say: “Athiesm. One god further.”

@glacial I know it’s a thing, but at the end of the commercial it doesn’t say “agnostic atheism”.

Actually I have no problem with the production of the commercial it is actually kind of neat. But I have a problem with the message. You either promote God or you don’t. I also am not entirely too keen on the idea that they chose primarly youth only for the commercial but I suppose that is who they want to target, the future generations?

@tom_g I understand where you are coming from. But those pushing for that chart the Upworthy showed to get even more skewed toward inequality ONLY use highly emotional appeals. You’re asking freethinkers to go into a gunfight without even a pocket knife. The most rational among us already know the things that videos like my Superbowl ad for Atheism and your Upworthy video for equitable distribution of wealth ar pushing for. To win that argument, you must reach those who haven’t heard the message and will not be swayed by preachiness alone.

@bkcunningham You disappoint me. I know you don’t like the message, but you’re usually able to come up with better rebuttals than claiming there’s a misplaced modifier when there isn’t. You’d have understood the question perfectly and never challenged its wording in such a disingenuous way if it had been about the Coke Superbowl Commercial or the God Made a Farmer Superbowl Commercial Chrysler’s Ram Truck division ran.

@Crumpet It seemed to me like they ran short on time and truncated that last point, assuming everyone would know what @tom_g explained about it. It probably should have either been explained or left out of the ad.

@nofurbelowsbatgirl Did you overlook this explanation immediately above your post?

@rosehips & @flutherother I refer you to what I said in reply to similar sentiments from tom_g above.

@amujinx Do you seriously believe that America’s largest corporations have grown so big because they are clueless that advertising is a waste of money, and so for them it somehow magically works. Are they like Wile E. Coyote, able to walk on thin air just as long as they don’t look down and realize they’ve gone off the edge of the cliff. This is the voice of reason?

@nofurbelowsbatgirl We need a single word to describe a large group of people. Christian is understood to mean people as diverse as Saint Francis and David Koresh. Sure, you could hang lots of additional modifiers on any Christian to further specify what kind they are, but that doesn’t mean the collective noun is useless.

As Wikipedia notes in defining Atheism, “Most inclusively, atheism is simply the absence of belief that any deities exist.” Most atheists, myself included, fall into that definition. A very small number claim they are absolutely certain that no deity exists. I am every bit as agnostic about that claim as I am about the claim that a deity does exist, and Yahweh is that deity. I am equally doubtful that fairies or unicorns exist. I don’t KNOW they are the stuff of fantasy. I just see no evidence for their existence, and extraordinary claims require extraordinary proofs. You can’t even prove that reindeer can’t fly. Push as many as you wish off tall buildings or cliffs, and when they fail to fly, all you have definitively proven is that they did not choose to fly at that particular time.

@ninjacolin Aren’t freethinkers their own worst enemies. The consensus among you is that the production values were far to slick and advertising driven, but that they weren’t slick and advertising worthy enough. No wonder the Flat Earthers win so often.

@ETpro I missed the explanation above my post. But I have read it now and it all makes sense, but I understood that before. My point is that I was merely being nitpicky about the message at the end it should of said “agnosic atheisim” not atheism or it should not of mentioned God at all. That’s how I feel.

There is more to the message than many want to see and this is a movement for a change towards a godless government/world. I was trying to avoid saying that. :/ lol I am sorry but it is a typical brainwashing technique they are using on you!

@nofurbelowsbatgirl It’s certainly a movement that advocates secular government, but there’s nothing remotely covert about that agenda.

@ETpro I don’t think advertising is a waste of money; I think advertising during the Super Bowl is a waste of money. Most of the products advertised during the Super Bowl are products that sell by remaining at the top of consumer’s minds as often as possible. If many of these companies took the money they over-spent on Super Bowl ads and invested it into more ubiquitous advertising I believe they would see a larger return over the long run.

@nofurbelowsbatgirl and @glacial I was talking about atheism, not agnostic atheism. As @ETpro explained, atheism is used as a more blanket term for a position, much like the term Christianity. The fact is, most atheists believe in the scientific theory, and as such cannot prove a negative, so they cannot say with one hundred per cent certainty there is no god. Even noted atheist Richard Dawkins said in his book The God Delusion that, “If all the evidence in the universe turned in favour of creationism, I would be the first to admit it, and I would immediately change my mind. As things stand, however, all available evidence (and there is a vast amount of it) favours evolution”.

As an aside, I personally do not accept the term ‘agnostic’ as defining my position on religion ever. Agnostic literally means “without knowledge”, and I think that this meaning is offensive and not often true of those who require proof before supporting a belief.

@amujinx How you feel about the term is pretty much immaterial. That is how agnostic atheism is defined.

@ETpro: “You’re asking freethinkers to go into a gunfight without even a pocket knife.”

I get it. It just doesn’t feel right to me. Part of me thinks that if you win a game by cheating, then you might not have won at all. I’m just uncomfortable with manipulation in that type of way. But you’re probably right. I’d probably show up to a gunfight with a turkey sandwich.

@nofurbelowsbatgirl You won’t get any argument from me that the commercial ends poorly, and that its ending should have been clearer and better defined.

@amujinx literally I suppose the synonym for agnostic is “without knowing”, but it actually means ”A person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God or of anything beyond material phenomena;”, so technically it does not actual define the agnostic person as being without knowledge.

@amujinx @ETpro I am going to go one step further yes that is a pun lol by suggesting that if this commercial is smart enough to make the message about “knowledge” and “going one step further” while circling huge question marks do you not think it is ignorant to suggest a “blanket term” and “one God further” (which to me suggests that they do believe in a god) for a term that obviously means the theory or belief that god does not exist. I mean I would of felt 99% better if it didn’t even say atheism at the end.

Just like the “non-conformity” part. Wtf. So if we are all going to be atheists aren’t we conforming to that?

@ETpro lol I’m not trying to argue ;) I’m just flabbergasted I suppose. I am glad I don’t fall for it. I do consider myself a freethinker and I do not need a label agnostic, atheism, christian or otherewise to define who I am, sometimes I do consider it though.

I always watch the superbowl, this year I chose not to lol.

@ETpro It’d be interesting to hear from the people behind the campaign regarding what their primary goal for the ad was, and whether their marketing research suggests it was effective in this regard.

Perhaps just getting people to discuss it would be considered success enough?

@nofurbelowsbatgirl You probably found a more profitable use of that time.

@AdamF As would I. I’ll see if I can learn more on that. Maybe someone in the Boston Atheists’ Meetup Group or Boston Freethinkers has some idea who did it and why.

Cool… hopefully someone will have some insights..

The commercial was produced through the Church of Scientology.

Here and here.

Oh, now that’s interesting! So they’re angling for atheists…That would explain something I was wondering about: if you were creating an ad to promote atheism, why would you include a phrase like “one god further” that only atheists would understand?

@bkcunningham Good to know!

But as all the atheists I’ve had anything to do with (but by no means all atheists) arrived at their position regarding gods due to an inherent skepticism (and thus find scientology about as laughable.. as well… just found it really hard to scrap the barrel of nonsense much further down than scientology), I can’t for the life of me figure out what this cryptic ad is supposed to achieve, or who it’s supposed to attract?!

Arriving at a gunfight with a copy of Dianetics?

It would also explain the lavish production values.

@bkcunningham just blew my mind.

Also… have they then redefined the phrase “one god further?” Because if the gods are extraterrestrial, I guess they are a little further…

LMFAO! Scientology? I called it. I told you guys it was a brainwashing technique :/ I knew something was amiss with the commercial. I actually had no idea. Not to toot my own horn but holy fuck toot, toot!

Thanks @bkcunningham for reaffirming that I am not really all that crazy lol. And it explains the entire commercials ignorance.

well done, @nofurbelowsbatgirl

Ha. I’d come to suspect what @bkcunningham figured out as I Googled for who put it together. Now I know. That ad didn’t run in this market, or I would have know its real source off the bat. And that explains what the kind of out-of-place “We go one god further” tack-on to the ending is doing there. How long till Scientology lawyers hit us with a DMCA complaint?

BTW, I emailed the guy who posted the doctored clip on YouTube, asking him who was behind putting it together. I look forward to hearing what he has to say.

To those like @nofurbelowbatsgirl who pointed out that the slick production values could be used to market any number of things, your complaints are certainly vindicated. I guess The Vatican wouldn’t want their imprint on the closing credits, but it works equally well to sell Atheism and the “religion”, Scientology. What a hoot!

<shrug> The fact that this happens not to be an advertisement for atheism doesn’t mean that such an ad would be a bad idea. Finding out who the source is doesn’t change my critique of the video itself.

Misplaced modifier indeed.~

@bkcunningham Maybe a misguided producer?

As usual Atheist always go too far.