Advertising time during a Superbowl broadcast is a goldmine and costs a goldmine for companies – but one insurance company may have miscalculated the public mood.
Nationwide Insurance faced serious backlash Sunday when they decided to air what was to many a sadly creepy commercial. Amid the buzz and excitement of one of football’s biggest nights and hottest advertising opportunities, Nationwide sent out this sombre message on childhood mortality:
“I’ll never learn to ride a bike,” says the dejected young boy of the commercial. “I’ll never learn to fly, or travel the world with my best friend.”
The boy continues to list his non-accomplishments, building up to this statement:
“I couldn’t grow up, because I died from an accident.”
The insurer decided to remind everyone that preventable accidents are the number one cause of childhood deaths – during the Super Bowl, with the message: “Together, we can make safe happen.”
The Twitterverse was quick to slam the ad, and Bloomberg reported that about 64% of the social media buzz surrounding the commercial was negative, despite securing the third-most talked about ad of the game.
Yet the consequences of the ad were not all negative for the insurer. Nationwide said thousands of people went online to its Make Safe Happen website in the aftermath of the ad spot.
“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,” the company said in a statement.
“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.”
The insurer's chief marketing officer, Matt Jauchius, also confirmed Nationwide's intent was to purposefully shock audiences – to "stage an intervention."
"You have to grab people by the scruff of the neck and say, 'Listen, this is the number one killer of children, and we want to do something about it, really,'" Jauchius told CNNMoney.
Judge for yourself, and let us know what you thought in the comments below.
