Nationwide is More than a Downer
Let me introduce you to Gia. She was born in 2000. She never learned to ride a bike. Or got cooties. She never learned to fly. Or travel the world with her best friend. She will never get married. She didn't grow up, because she died during a liver transplant surgery as a result of liver cancer. She passed away on July 26, 2004.
Imagine Gia was your daughter. It is easy for me, because she is my daughter. Now we are over 10 years later, and I still think of her everyday. Now imagine escaping this troubled world for a few hours to enjoy the Super Bowl. It is an escape that only comes once a year. I enjoy watching the game with my girls, and try to forget the troubles the world brings. Then this commercial comes on:
How would you feel if you lost a child for any reason? Can you imagine the discussion it creates with your other children who are 7 & 8 about the sibling they never met? Simply put this brought nothing but pain to parents who lost a child, no matter the cause of death.
I know Nationwide has issued a statement stating that they were hoping to start a dialogue regarding safety in the home. That may be a noble goal, but this is not the way to start a dialogue of any kind. It is obvious to me that no one involved within the company or their advertising agency has ever suffered such a horrible loss. I certainly hope they never do.
Insurance is supposed to be about making you whole, but there is no insurance in the world that can ever make the loss of a child whole. In my view this commercial was much more than a downer, as the Washington Post stated. To me it was personal.
UPDATE: I have a follow-up post to this one called "Nationwide Grieving a Child & a Court Win"
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9yI saw your subsequent post first. I didn't know about your daughter. I'm so sorry for your loss. No amount of time really makes up for it. It just gets a little easier to bear. I can see how this commercial only hurt you. My sincere sympathies.
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9ySometimes parents get too busy and take their child's safety for granted. If only one child's life is saved by this commercial and the conversation its creates then I say "Thank You Nationwide!"
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9yI am so sorry for your loss of your daughter Gia, she looked to be a very happy little girl. This was the one and only commercial I actually saw during the super bowl and I was also upset by it. I don't care what kind of insurance company they are they can never fix a family after losing a child. By the grace of God I have never lost a child, but I teared up watching that commercial simply by how many people had to have been effected in a negative way by it. I am also very happy that I am not a customer of theirs as I would have already switched my insurance. The whole thing was in very poor taste.
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9yFrank Eliason A sincere thank you and appreciation for your insights and guidance in my efforts try to get the accident prevention message to the forefront; it still isn't but I was not helping in my approach in addressing matters as I did on your posts. You did not deserve that and I apologize; to you, to Nationwide, and to the MakeSafeHappen.com program. Matt Garley Shriners Hospitals for Children has some good information that could make a huge difference in your child's life: www.shrinershospitalsforchildren.org/education Think you already get it? Then someone PLEASE explain to me why U.S. hospitals treat an estimated 16,000 children under five for scalds a year? Scald burns, which are caused by hot liquids, steam or foods, are the most common burn injury among young children and the leading cause of accidental death in the home for children under age four. So make a difference in you kids life--because you won't get a "do-over" when it happens to your child.
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9yI felt similarly when I saw the ad but for a different reason. I have a disabled son who never learned to ride a bike, will never drive a car, will never get married, and probably was considered the source of cootie. He is with us and he has a pretty happy life in spite of these missing experiences and Nationwide won't ever help him. There was no accident. It still sends the message that he should be considered unfortunate, the child of a lesser god, since he can't or won't do these things. It hurts to hear that missing these experiences is as though he isn't here. It was a bad ad on many levels.