Dear Nationwide

If you were watching the Super Bowl yesterday, and chances are good that you were, you most likely saw the controversial Nationwide Insurance ad. If you didn't see it, and for some reason you wish to, you can view it HERE on YouTube. 
Here's what I have to say about it...

Dear Nationwide,
I understand and appreciate that you care about the safety of children. I do too. I think that educating the public about preventable household accidents is important, and should be addressed. But as with anything, there is an appropriate time and place to discuss these matters, and during the Super Bowl was not it. 
I'm guessing the people who created and approved that ad have never lost a child. Because if they had, they would have known and understood that seeing a commercial like that would be considered highly triggering for parents and families of child loss. Regardless of if that child was killed in a preventable accident or not. 
They would have known that after you lose a child, you struggle constantly, and that few things, if any, give you moments of peace and pleasure anymore. For many grieving parents, something like the Super Bowl was a chance to relax and enjoy a few hours of entertainment, ideally giving your mind a break from the unending pain of your grief. To be hit, so unexpectedly, with such a blatantly shocking ad, was just cruel. As parents of child loss, we know to avoid triggers. We heed warnings about content, and we limit our intake of negative stimuli. For your commercial, we had no such warning. Super Bowl commercials are almost always funny and lighthearted. Meant to make people smile and laugh, or maybe warm your heart. Your ad did none of those. Instead you took the opportunity to use shock value to try to garner attention for your company. Congratulations, it worked. Myself, along with millions of others, are talking about it. But at what cost? How many people, like myself, were emotionally body slammed by it? How many people, who were just trying to enjoy a sporting event, spent the remainder of their evening in tears, or in unimaginable pain from the unexpected blow to the heart?
Maybe you haven't lost a child, so you don't understand the guilt we parents feel. Regardless of if the death was avoidable or preventable. We torture ourselves with what ifs and maybes. Watching a silly football game could have been a small break from suffering for so many, and you destroyed that. You want to talk about preventable? Well you, Nationwide, could have prevented that ad from airing. You could have prevented needless pain and suffering for so many already tortured souls, by simply choosing to either air that ad at a different time, or including a content warning.
Personally, I have never been impacted enough by a commercial to use or not use a product or service. Until now. I can tell you with 100% certainty that if I currently had Nationwide Insurance, I would be changing companies. And based off of what I read on social media, I am far from alone in my feelings.
You had good intentions, but you made a poor marketing decision, and I hope that you learn a valuable lesson from it. Viewers are not just numbers on a chart. They are people. With fragile hearts, and real stories of loss. Protecting children is important, but protecting the human spirit is just as important. You could have easily got your message across any number of ways, without playing on shock value. Compassion, empathy, and understanding can go much farther. Something you should consider when creating your next big ad.

Written to you with a heavy heart by a grieving parent. 

My little family. Shortly before our son,
and only child, was unexpectedly ripped from our lives.