Nationwide Insurance's depressing Super Bowl ad generated so much backlash Sunday that the company issued a late-night statement explaining that the spot — which featured a young boy who turns out to be dead — was meant "to start a conversation, not sell insurance."
The ad, which aired in the first half of the New England Patriots' 28-24 victory over the Seattle Seahawks, shows the tousle-haired tyke talking about all the life experiences he'll never get to experience because he's dead.
Late Sunday after the game, Nationwide issued this statement:
Preventable injuries around the home are the leading cause of childhood deaths in America. Most people don't know that. Nationwide ran an ad during the Super Bowl that started a fierce conversation. The sole purpose of this message was to start a conversation, not sell insurance. We want to build awareness of an issue that is near and dear to all of us-the safety and well being of our children. We knew the ad would spur a variety of reactions. In fact, thousands of people visited MakeSafeHappen.com, a new website to help educate parents and caregivers with information and resources in an effort to make their homes safer and avoid a potential injury or death. Nationwide has been working with experts for more than 60 years to make homes safer. While some did not care for the ad, we hope it served to begin a dialogue to make safe happen for children everywhere.
"This prick is asking for someone here to bring him to task Somebody give me some dirt on this vacuous mass so we can at last unmask him I'll pull the trigger on it, someone load the gun and cock it While we were all watching, he got Washington in his pocket."
Assholes. How tone deaf can they be?? It's not the conversation People are upset about.
Exactly!! I don't know anyone who is upset about the conversation. It is an important one. They missed the point and are just being ridiculous about it.
Post by cattledogkisses on Feb 2, 2015 12:05:01 GMT -5
My heart dropped when I saw that commercial. All I could think of was the people I know who have lost a child, and what a gut-punch it must have been to be blindsided by that in the middle of the Superbowl.
Post by downtoearth on Feb 2, 2015 12:07:34 GMT -5
I know two people (my 2nd cousin and a friend from high school) who have lost toddlers to drowning - at home. So I know that some of the issues they showed really are something to consider. It just was so emotional and made me think of every accidental death of a child that I have personally known.
I just can't get behind the parent shaming that the ad felt like. I mean Nationwide does life, home, and auto insurance, right? So if we feel more scared, we'll up our insurance rates or get life insurance on our kids, etc. So b/c that is what they do and the ad was super emotionally-charged (I got tears), I feel like they were trying to scare us into more insurance and not to "begin a dialogue."
They wanted to start a conversation-well, they sure did. I wonder what answers they have for all of the young children who saw that ad and are now asking about death and why the little boy died.
Better to offend devastated parents instead of NRA members, amiright?
Also, and I might be very (NOT deliberately) obtuse here but...I don't even get it. They didn't buy a spot during the Super Bowl because they care about safety - every company buys a spot during the Super Bowl to advertise their company when the most people in America are watching a single television event. I don't buy that this was solely a PSA. So what were they actually advertising...life insurance for children? Otherwise, how would having insurance of any kind help a family reeling from their child drowning in the pool?
Post by penguingrrl on Feb 2, 2015 12:20:43 GMT -5
Fuck them. That ad was reprehensible and the venue was beyond inappropriate. They were going for shock value and to sell their product and it failed. I just can't believe anyone would have thought that ad was okay.
Post by cinnamoncox on Feb 2, 2015 12:37:39 GMT -5
I'm clueless about this stuff, but does anyone know how ad time works? Like, is nationwide the only ones who would have seen it before it aired, or does someone else, another entity, approve ad spots in advance? I feel like someone would've seen this besides nationwide and said wait, what's this shit. But I know nothing about advertising and who determines who gets on the Super Bowl commercial spots. I know they are wicked $$$$, so I also don't believe this was a PSA. no way no how.
Better to offend devastated parents instead of NRA members, amiright?
Also, and I might be very (NOT deliberately) obtuse here but...I don't even get it. They didn't buy a spot during the Super Bowl because they care about safety - every company buys a spot during the Super Bowl to advertise their company when the most people in America are watching a single television event. I don't buy that this was solely a PSA. So what were they actually advertising...life insurance for children? Otherwise, how would having insurance of any kind help a family reeling from their child drowning in the pool?
No. Here is what they are doing and it's the fucking grossest fucking only an insurance company would do it kind of thing in the entire gotdamned world.
How do insurance companies make money? They sell insurance. How do they make MORE money? They sell insurance that a claim is never made on. So, let's say you have fire, auto, or home owners insurance through Nationwide. You pay your premiums for years and years and years and then a neighbor downs in your pool and makes a liability claim on your policy. Suddenly, selling you that policy wasn't such a good investment.
However, if they can get you to both buy the policy, ny making you feel unsafe without it, while educating you on ways to avoid accidents that would result in a claim on the policy, err, i mean, educate you on how to keep your kids safe, suddenly they're selling insurance with fewer claims made in it which means increased profit.
It's the kind of brilliance you'd expect from an insurance company. Unfortunately for them, the ad is terrible.
THANK YOU! I've been hovering around this idea since last night, and I couldn't form it into words. This is why it's so abhorrent.
Better to offend devastated parents instead of NRA members, amiright?
Also, and I might be very (NOT deliberately) obtuse here but...I don't even get it. They didn't buy a spot during the Super Bowl because they care about safety - every company buys a spot during the Super Bowl to advertise their company when the most people in America are watching a single television event. I don't buy that this was solely a PSA. So what were they actually advertising...life insurance for children? Otherwise, how would having insurance of any kind help a family reeling from their child drowning in the pool?
No. Here is what they are doing and it's the fucking grossest fucking only an insurance company would do it kind of thing in the entire gotdamned world.
How do insurance companies make money? They sell insurance. How do they make MORE money? They sell insurance that a claim is never made on. So, let's say you have fire, auto, or home owners insurance through Nationwide. You pay your premiums for years and years and years and then a neighbor downs in your pool and makes a liability claim on your policy. Suddenly, selling you that policy wasn't such a good investment.
However, if they can get you to both buy the policy, ny making you feel unsafe without it, while educating you on ways to avoid accidents that would result in a claim on the policy, err, i mean, educate you on how to keep your kids safe, suddenly they're selling insurance with fewer claims made in it which means increased profit.
It's the kind of brilliance you'd expect from an insurance company. Unfortunately for them, the ad is terrible.
This....is not something I've ever really thought about in concrete terms. Now that I have I feel like I need a shower.
I'm clueless about this stuff, but does anyone know how ad time works? Like, is nationwide the only ones who would have seen it before it aired, or does someone else, another entity, approve ad spots in advance? I feel like someone would've seen this besides nationwide and said wait, what's this shit. But I know nothing about advertising and who determines who gets on the Super Bowl commercial spots. I know they are wicked $$$$, so I also don't believe this was a PSA. no way no how.
I believe NBC reviews from an FCC violation perspective not from a "this is a really bad idea for an ad" perspective
I missed the ad but I still can't believe that a group of people got in a room and thought this ad would be a good idea. And to air it during the Super Bowl. Just horrible idea.
It's disgusting. And that apology is BS. Every parent who has lost a child that I know has said how horrible that commercial made them feel. Some got physically sick from it. For them to claim that if it's okay to make people feel that way if it saves a life is beyond horrible.