How to watch Super Bowl ads with your kids (including the Nationwide Insurance ad)
Because the Super Bowl is both the premier marketing venue for advertisers and a major family event, commercial breaks have become a minefield parents must navigate.
"I think there鈥檚 some emotions that might be drummed up by a [Super Bowl] commercial that are really positive and feel good to both parents and kids [like a lost puppy finding his way back] and then there are emotions where you remember them because of what they made you feel in the pit of your stomach [like when a child who doesn鈥檛 get to grow up],"聽David Anderson,聽senior director of the ADHD and Disruptive Behavior Disorders Center at the Child Mind Institute in New York City, says in a phone interview.聽
Rather than trying to protect children 鈥� by either avoiding commercials or turning the volume down 鈥� families might want to consider the benefits of helping kids evolve their emotional coping skills after they have seen something that invokes a deep emotional response, he says.
鈥淗ow a parent chooses to response always depends on the age of the child seeing the commercial. You can鈥檛 shield your kids from everything forever. Check-in with kids to find out how they鈥檙e feeling and validate their response, says Anderson. "Help mediate the perspective by helping kids contextualize what they saw. Help filter these ads through the lens of a moral perspective.鈥�
鈥淧eople are still talking about the because it was a shock at the end that was so funny,鈥� Anderson says. But the Nationwide Insurance ad portraying the tragic death of a child "reminds us of something that we only want to have to think of in really, really dark times...My reaction to that ad was one of intense sadness."
On YouTube and across social media platforms, the hashtag #NationwideKills trended Sunday evening as many vented their sadness and in some cases, rage over the聽.
鈥淪o, I think that Nationwide just aired the most depressing commercial I鈥檝e ever seen during a Super Bowl, or actually, maybe, period,鈥� says聽聽in his YouTube reaction video.
Nationwide responded on its website to the backlash with :
鈥淧reventable injuries around the home are the leading cause of childhood deaths in America. Most people don鈥檛 know that. Nationwide ran an ad during the Super Bowl that started a fierce conversation. 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鈥攖he safety and well being of our children. We knew the ad would spur a variety of reactions. In fact, thousands of people visited MakeSafeHappen.com, a new website to help educate parents and caregivers with information and resources in an effort to make their homes safer and avoid a potential injury or death. Nationwide has been working with experts for more than 60 years to make homes safer. While some did not care for the ad, we hope it served to begin a dialogue to make safe happen for children everywhere.鈥�
Aside from laughter, sadness and rage,聽love was the emotion聽McDonalds听补苍诲听聽used in an effort to make food all about the lovin鈥�.
鈥淒id you notice how the McDonald鈥檚聽聽ad never showed any food,鈥� says Jesse Bragg, media director for the watchdog group Corporate Accountability International, based in Boston. 鈥淐oke鈥檚聽聽didn鈥檛 show people drinking their product. Instead, both companies chose to sell feelings and not their products because those products have been deemed as 'unhealthy' by many families. So in order to win hearts and minds they aren鈥檛 selling their products. Instead they鈥檙e substituting them with loving your mother or your child or enjoying life and bringing back positivity in general.鈥�
[Editor's note: An earlier version misquoted Dr. Anderson.]
