Religious content has long been a social media mainstay, where Christian influencers can garner millions of views. And much of the online reaction to Hallow’s TikTok ads has been positive. Still, Alex JonesHallow’s chief executive, says he knows some people are surprised to stumble upon the company’s social media ads.
“We are not setting out any sophisticated or specific targeting,” wrote Mr. Jones, who is not to be confused with the conspiracy theorist of the same name who ran the Infowars website. “Each platform has its own algorithm for determining its feed. We know there have been some comments from people who were surprised to see these posts in their feed. We certainly don’t want to force anything on anyone.”
Jessi Hood, a library circulation coordinator in Roanoke, Va., who does not consider herself religious, is another person Mr. Wahlberg and Hallow on his For You page on TikTok. “I kind of roll my eyes for half an hour when I see him,” said Ms. Hood, 24, citing the actor’s criminal past. (At 16, Mr. Wahlberg was convicted of assaulting a Vietnamese man and served 45 days in prison.)
Downloaded by Ms. Hood is Hallow because of curiosity. “My first thought was like, Oh, that’s weird. This is an app for prayers, and you have to pay for it?” he said. He posted a few screenshots from Hallow on X and then deleted them on his phone.
In his email, Mr. Jones, the Hallow executive, provided anonymous quotes from alleged Hallow users glowing about the platform. For others who find Hallow ads on social media, less interest: “Opened tiktok to a video of Mark Wahlberg asking me to pray with him … and I can’t think of anything I want to do when less, actually,” Brandi Howard, 32, posted on X.
But because Mr. Schneider visited Hallow’s website and Ms. Hood the app (just to delete it), TikTok’s campaign seems to pique curiosity.
