During last night’s Super Bowl Nationwide Insurance ran an ad as part of its #makesafehappen campaign. It definitely was not puppies and horses. Instead, Nationwide portrayed all the life events a child killed in a childhood accident would miss. Here’s the ad:
Those watching the game hated it and lit up social media in response. OK, no one likes to get a big sad when they’re eating dip and watching men concuss themselves. But bravo to Nationwide for putting the issue of preventable childhood accidents front and center in a high visibility way. It’s not a contrived issue. Preventable injuries kill a lot of children, even accounting for car accidents.
Conservatives saw the ad as an extension of a soft nanny state society. But the ad wasn’t about things like letting your kids run free outside (I do that) or letting them go sledding (I do that, too), or rope swings (that, too!) or biking (yes) or climbing up things (constantly). Rather, it was about preventable accidents involving household items, burns, cleaners, tubs, and so forth. If conservatives want government out of people’s lives they can’t then protest ads (from the private sector no less) reminding people not to be idiots or even just inattentive – especially where children are involved.
The left, meanwhile, is obsessed by guns. But while you frequently get asked if you keep a firearm in your home (by babysitting co-ops, play groups, and so forth) rarely does anyone ask if you leave deadly chemicals where toddlers can get into them or whether you have secured heavy items to the wall so they can’t topple on curious little ones. And while sharpshooting toddlers are apparently a problem, for most kids it is a household cleaner, appliance, or falling bank of shelves posing a greater risk.* Not to be too glib about it, but while you’re obsessing about keeping your children in close proximity to kale, the Nationwide ad was a good reminder to be mindful of their proximity to a lot of stuff more likely to seriously harm them than a Twinkie.
Bottom line: Accidents affecting kids are a real issue. That’s why it’s not Nationwide being soft, it’s people who can’t be distracted from a football game and funny ads about chips for a 45-second dose of real life that just might save lives.
*Firearm accidents for young people make news but are relatively rare, more so than poison, burns, suffocation, and other accidents that get less attention. Homicides involving guns are a different story.
