I didn't watch the Super Bowl yesterday, but this Nationwide ad seems to be generating the most press.
Maybe it's because I get safety reminders at work all the time, but I don't see anything all that outrageous about it. And the fact that it jarred some folk with its message means it did its job.
People were really freaked out by this harrowing Super Bowl commercial
Viewers watching the Super Bowl were left shocked after a “buzz-killing” commercial about a dead little boy aired during an ad-break.
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People don't like to be uncomfortable is all. They don't like to be reminded that sometimes it is their own negligence…hence why when something happens to someone's kid it is always someone else's fault.
Mostly it was the kill a kid ad which then led other downer ads. It was just something that just started to feed itself about poor judgement for an ad that cost millions to air.
Except it wasn't really "harrowing", it was just… bad. Using a dead kid to sell insurance? Tone deaf, tasteless, and it probably damaged the brand.
See, I didn't see it as much as an insurance ad as a safety ad (sponsored by an insurance company). You can't buy insurance to keep your kid from dying, after all. Thus the link at the end to the safety site.
Is it, ultimately, meant to drive insurance sales? Well, of course. But the path taken there struck me as a fairly positive one.
I'm cynical — I figure their intent was to go viral and stoke the flames of outrage, which is exactly what it seems to have done.
I don't think dead kids are a winner marketing-wise, but I'm not in the target market anyway.