Each week “resident riskologist” Keven Moore shines the light on America’s riskiest behaviors – from unsafe driving practices to workplace stress to common home accidents. And in the process, he provides the information needed to help people play it a little safer.
Nationwide Insurance caused a bit of a ruckus with its Super Bowl ad this year – you know, the one featuring the kid who never got to grow up because he died in a preventable accident. Many called the ad morbid and some said it soured the otherwise festive Super Bowl spirit.
With three kids of my own, it bothered me as well. But I was able to receive the message in the way it was intended – to build awareness about preventable childhood accidents. Being a risk management and safety consultant also probably helped.
Nationwide responded to the critics, saying the ad wasn’t intended to be a sales pitch. “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.”
Regardless of how you feel about the ad, there’s no escaping the fact that children die unnecessarily in accidents that could have been prevented. In fact, more children die from such accidents than from cancer, suicide and homicide combined.
From my perspective I found the ad impactful and was happy it spurred this important conversation. Preventable deaths are exactly that, preventable and unnecessary. With the right amount of education, prevention and awareness, many can be averted.
As with most families, my family was once touched with such a tragedy, in the 1980s, when my cousin was accidentally killed when she jumped out of the family car in which she was playing and was run over as it rolled backward. I can imagine how disturbing such a commercial could have been.
Some critics claimed that “it is obvious to that no one involved within the Nationwide Company or their advertising agency has ever suffered such a horrible loss.” But I would argue the opposite. Many people who’ve suffered such loss go on crusades such as this to help others from experiencing the same.
Despite the negative reaction, Joe Case, associate vice-president of corporate marketing, said the company is pleased with the overall response.
As Case explained in an interview on CNN’s AC 360, the ad’s intent was to raise awareness of a cause the company has been supporting for more than 60 years. Nationwide has as history of funding research for such causes, primarily in partnership with Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, where the company is headquartered.
Further, Case said only about one-third of parents in one recent study thought they had to make their homes safer for their children. The research results led Nationwide to launch the “Make Safe Happen” campaign earlier in 2015. Nationwide chose to “stage an intervention” to get people’s attention during the Super Bowl, one of the most watched sporting events in the world.
They had anticipated the audience to react in shock and surprise, and had even set up a command center during the game that included representatives from the public relations, corporate communications, social media and legal departments as well as senior executives.
Case later added, “It’s not about selling insurance. It’s about doing our part to get the word out in the community.” To prove that point they went as far as to develop the Make Safe Happen website and created an app (available for iPhone and Android devices). Company reps now claim the public’s reaction has begun to change.
We all know that insurance is supposed to be about making you whole after a loss, but there is no amount of insurance in the world that can ever make up for the loss of a child. If anything the only thing that could ever come close to filling such a void would be the satisfaction of preventing such future accidents so that other families would never ever have to go through that pain.
The joy is in ensuring – and insuring – that a precious child to have the chance to catch cooties, ride a bike, hit his first home run, build a snowman, climb a tree, participate in a first dance recital, go out on a first date, receive a first kiss, attend a prom, get married and raise children.
Maybe the advertisement rubbed some people the wrong way, but I commend Joe Case and Nationwide for airing it. And I can guarantee you that there will be people years from now who will be alive because of this commercial. Money well spent Mr. Case.
Be safe, my friends.
Keven Moore is director of Risk Management Services for Roeding Insurance (www.roedinginsurance.com). He has a bachelor’s degree from University of Kentucky, a master’s from Eastern Kentucky University and 25-plus years of experience in the safety and insurance profession. He lives in Lexington with his family and works out of both the Lexington and Northern Kentucky offices. Keven can be reached at kmoore@roeding.com.
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