Posted in: Movies | Tagged: entertainment, film, liam neeson, Nationwide, nbc, super bowl, walter white

The Most Talked About Super Bowl Ad… And Not In A Good Way

Where folks are talking about the Liam Neeson, Brady Bunch and Walter White commercials and trying to figure out which was the best… a lot more people are talking about the Nationwide ad and just how inappropriate it was. If you did not see it, I will link it at the bottom… but this ad showed all the grand adventures a young boy could have gone on had he not died from a preventable accident in the home.

The moment the ad aired, social media went nuts with negative comments ranging from the commercial being a buzz kill for a fun event to people angry about how some folks could be reminded of horrible tragedies in their life with no warning.

Nationwide put out a statement to NBC News before the Super Bowl post-game show was completed:

"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."

Now I see how Nationwide is trying to stand behind their ad and spin it that it was more about bringing an important topic to light rather than advertising… but I'm having a hard time buying that argument. A 30-second ad space during the game was going for $4.5 million dollars. The commercial below is 48 seconds… so its likely that the insurance company spent $6.75 million dollars just to run the piece. I can't see any company shelling out that much money without expecting to make a profit and that seems to be the consensus. No matter how Nationwide spins it or tries to take the high ground, it comes across like they were trying to use a parent's worse nightmare to sell insurnace… and they definitely made the worst commercial of the night.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKUy-tfrIHY[/youtube]

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