--- title: Nationwide Super Bowl Ad: Here's Why They Ran the Ad About Dead Kids description: It was to raise awareness about the number one cause of death for children canonical: https://time.com/3692883/nationwide-insurance-super-bowl-ad/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-02T23:08:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-01T09:02:41.382Z og:title: Here's Why Nationwide Ran That Depressing Super Bowl Ad og:description: It was to raise awareness about the number one cause of death for children og:url: https://time.com/3692883/nationwide-insurance-super-bowl-ad/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltebfc49ea793a5747/69877d4155a8595a0ba85988/nationwide-halftime.jpg?branch=production&width=553&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 553 og:image:height: 311 og:image:alt: nationwide-halftime og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's Why Nationwide Ran That Depressing Super Bowl Ad twitter:description: It was to raise awareness about the number one cause of death for children twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltebfc49ea793a5747/69877d4155a8595a0ba85988/nationwide-halftime.jpg?branch=production&width=553&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's Why Nationwide Ran That Depressing Super Bowl Ad > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture recommendation newsletter, edited by culture editor Eliza Berman. Each week it surfaces the books, shows, films and ideas TIME's editors think are worth your attention, and explains why. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Does TIME have a culture newsletter? Yes. Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published weekly. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-worth-2026q3/newsletters?i=0a610b61-cce5-4a52-9513-3e69c712c8a0&cr=time-nl-worth-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Make Safe Happen - Nationwide 2015 Super Bowl Commercial [Watch (HLS stream): Make Safe Happen - Nationwide 2015 Super Bowl Commercial](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/WkIuluY9.m3u8) (0:47)  _Published 2015-02-02. Make Safe Happen - Nationwide 2015 Super Bowl Commercial_  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Feb 2, 2015 11:08 PM UTC  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Feb 2, 2015 11:08 PM UTC Nationwide Insurance has been getting some flak for its super-depressing Super Bowl ad about a child’s death, and now the company is telling its side of the story. “We were not trying to sell insurance with this ad,” says Nationwide CMO Matt Jauchius. “We were trying to save kids’ lives by making people aware of this.” According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ([CDC](http://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/leading%5Fcauses%5Fof%5Fdeath%5Fby%5Fage%5Fgroup%5F2012-a.pdf)), accidents are the number one cause of death for children, and Jauchius says that’s been true since the 1950s. In fact, he said, if you average the number of children who die in accidents per year (9,000), it comes out to about [one per hour](http://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/national%5Faction%5Fplan%5Ffor%5Fchild%5Finjury%5Fprevention.pdf). That means that over the course of the Super Bowl, four children could have been killed by preventable accidents. Jauchius notes that there is no insurance policy explicitly advertised in the spot. Instead, the ad was designed to promote the company’s Make Safe Happen program, which raises awareness about preventable accidents and offers tools to help parents make their homes safer (like checklists organized by age, or room in the home.) But what about criticism that the ad’s tone was too depressing for Super Bowl Sunday? Jauchius disagrees, citing ads about [cyberbullying](http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/coca-cola-targets-online-hate-its-makeithappy-super-bowl-campaign-162547) and [domestic violence](http://time.com/3684144/super-bowl-nfl-domestic-violence-ad/) that also ran during the game. Plus, he notes, what better time to raise awareness than when [millions](http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/02/02/super-bowl-delivers-its-highest-overnight-tv-rating-ever/) of Americans are tuned in at the same time? “Some people would say that the Super Bowl is not the place for these kinds of ads that are trying to do social good,” he says. “But if all of this saves one kid’s life, it’s more than worth it.” ## Transcript Hey wait! Guys wait! Wait! I'll never learn to ride a bike. Or get cooties. I'll never learn to fly, or travel the world with my best friend. [ MUSIC ] And I won't ever get married. I couldn't grow up, because I died from an accident. [ MUSIC ] [ NOISE ] At Nationwide, we believe in protecting what matters most. Your kids. Together, we can make safe happen. 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