Grim Super Bowl ad sparks backlash
Insurance company's message about accidental childhood deaths strikes a sour note online when aired during America's top sporting event
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 03 February, 2015, 10:36pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 03 February, 2015, 10:36pm
Agence France-Presse in Washington
A video screengrab of Mutual Insurance's Super Bowl advert.
A major US insurance company found itself on the defensive after its sobering Super Bowl advert about children who die in preventable accidents triggered a social media backlash.
Nationwide Mutual Insurance said on Monday it wanted to raise awareness about accidental childhood death, which experts say occur about once every hour in the US.
"I couldn't grow up because I died from an accident," says a young boy in the ad, after regretting he will never ride a bike, get married or travel the world.
Haunting images follow - of an overflowing bathtub, cleaning solvents under a kitchen sink, and a large flat-screen television that fell onto the floor.
"The number one cause of childhood death is preventable accidents," stated the gloomy 45-second clip promoting the Twitter hashtag #makesafehappen.
The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said a "staggering" 9,000 American children die every year from unintentional injuries - or about 25 a day.
Nationwide's commercial rivalled a sentimental horse-and-puppy Budweiser spot as the most-mentioned ad on social media, but not in the way it might have aimed for.
"Unnecessary," "ugly manipulation for profit" and "just a punch in the gut for parents that have lost their child" were some of the comments seen on Twitter about the insurance ad.
Others joked at Nationwide's expense: "I won't watch Katy Perry because I died in a depressing Nationwide commercial," quipped one tweet, referring to the pop diva's half-time show.
Johns Hopkins University marketing lecturer Keith Quesenberry said Nationwide fumbled by trying to raise an important social issue at the very moment when Americans were in a collective party mood.
"Most consumers want to support serious causes, but there is a time and place," said the expert on Super Bowl advertising.
"They don't want to be brought down in the middle of their celebration," he said, adding viewers "generally like happy 'Hollywood' endings" to ads.
Sentiment140.com which tracks how consumers feel about brands on social media, reported 53 per cent negative sentiment for Nationwide on Monday, compared to a 72 per cent positive feeling for Budweiser.
Nationwide defended the commercial, which stood out from a raft of father-friendly "dad-vertising" that featured in this year's Super Bowl spots.
"The sole purpose of this message was to start a conversation, not sell insurance," said the Ohio-based mutual, which is among the 100 biggest companies in the United States.
Ogilvy and Mather president Adam Tucker, whose firm created the ad, said: "In 60 seconds, we can probably bring more attention and awareness and action around this issue than we have in 60 years."
More than 70 advertisers paid a reported US$4.5 million per 30 seconds of air time to appear during the Super Bowl viewed by 115 million Americans.
