While watching football playoff games over the next few days, you may see a new ad, called "America. The Beautiful." It's part of a $9 million marketing campaign drawn up by The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank known for its influential "Project 2025" blueprint.
It depicts the evolution of a nuclear American family, seated around the dinner table, from the earliest days of the country to the present day and future. As time passes, the family's clothing, hair and ethnicity change to reflect the different eras of the nation, but the ad always shows them praying together, with the male figure at the head of the table.
"Since the founding of America 250 years ago, many things have changed: the homes in which we live, the clothes we wear, the jobs we hold, the conveniences we enjoy," the ad states.
"But some things never change. The commitment of husband and wife, the importance of passing along our values to our children, the rewards of service to the community and country, the faithfulness of God," it continues.
The ad will premiere during NFL playoff games over the weekend and will continue to air through April on cable networks including TBS, TNT, USA, TV Land, ESPN, Fox News and Hallmark, among others.
The Heritage Foundation's ad spot isn't connected to America250, the official nonpartisan group charged by Congress with planning the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Rather, it is among a flurry of efforts by political organizations, lobbying groups and companies to set their own narrative around the nation's milestone birthday, how history is presented and how the country's future is defined.
The ad seeks to advance The Heritage Foundation's values, including its "work to restore the natural family" as a pillar of American life, define citizenship as a "sacred inheritance rooted in love of country, civic virtue, and faith in God" and promote military strength.
While The Heritage Foundation has worked to end diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives across the country, including in the federal government, it did include people of diverse backgrounds, including Black, Hispanic and Asian families, in the ad.
Tyler Johnson, membership director at Heritage, argued the organization's stance on DEI initiatives isn't reflective of its views on diversity. He said the organization wanted to "reflect the full breadth of the American people" in its campaign, but argued that DEI "isn't about celebrating diversity," but rather "enforcing ideological conformity."
Johnson said the organization is taking a "forward-looking" approach to America's 250th, looking at how it can preserve America's "blessings for future generations."
What is The Heritage Foundation?
Founded in 1973 during Richard Nixon's administration, The Heritage Foundation has been influential in Republican politics for decades and has advocated strongly for PresidentDonald Trumpthroughout his decadelong tenure in American politics.
The Heritage Foundation President Kevin D. Roberts told The New York Times in a January 2024 interview that he viewed the foundation's role as "institutionalizing Trumpism." Roberts later told Steve Bannon on "The War Room" podcast that the country was "in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be."
Since Trump took office for his second term, he's worked at a breakneck speed to enact many of Project 2025's policy recommendations, including eliminating most of the government's efforts to achieve equity, dismantling the federal bureaucracy and restricting access to abortion.
Trump has appointed several officials with connections to The Heritage Foundation to his administration. Russell Vought, a key architect of Project 2025 and the former vice president of The Heritage Foundation's advocacy arm, leads the Office of Management and Budget. Trump nominated E.J. Antoni, the organization's former chief economist, to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Organizations seize on America 250
The Heritage Foundation isn't the only organization seeking to market its vision around the semiquincentennial.
Americans for Prosperity, a group founded by the famously conservative billionairesCharles Kochand the late-David Koch, created a modern Declaration of Independence and created its own minute-long ad in support of limited government.
Youth 250, a nonpartisan initiative of Gen Z Americans, is also creating its own undefined of what they see as a shared vision for the future of the country.
States, local communities and corporations across the country, fromCoca-Colatothe NFLandFord, are celebrating the anniversary in their own ways, with parades, reflective exhibits, commemorative bottles,activities and special edition cars.
America250 was created by Congress a decade ago to plan and coordinate national programming around the event.
Trump now has launched his own nonprofit called Freedom 250 to set up his own events, including an Ultimate Fighting Championship match on the White House lawn and anathletic competitionamong high school students that has been compared to the fictional Hunger Games and ridiculed by Democrats.
Government agencies, including the Department of the Interior and the Department of State, have realigned their programming under the White House's agency, instead of the previous America250 branding they used.
Rosie Rios, chair of America250, said the two groups are working together and Trump "deserves to plan the celebration that he wants to plan."
Karissa Waddick, who covers America's semiquincentennial for USA TODAY, can be reached at kwaddick@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:You're going to see this ad during the NFL playoffs. What to know.
