Nationwide Creates Child-Safety Council
March 3, 2015 by Mark Williams, The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio
Feb. 26--Nationwide is following up on its controversial “dead-kid” advertisement from the Super Bowl, today announcing plans to form a child-safety council aimed at reducing the number of deaths among children from preventable injuries.
The Make Safe Happen Advisory Council will develop new ways to communicate how parents and other caregivers can make their homes safer. The council, which includes Nationwide Children’s Hospital as a member, will convene this spring.
Work on the council began last March when Nationwide executives began discussions about would could be done to raise awareness of the issue of childhood safety, said Matt Jauchius, Nationwide’s executive president.
But the insurer said today it didn’t want to announce the creation of the council immediately after the game, when there still was so much focus on the ad itself. The spot featured a small boy talking about all the things he missed out on because he died in an accident. The ad showed an overflowing bathtub and other hazards, and noted that accidents are the leading cause of preventable childhood death.
“The ad was still so fresh,” Jauchius said. “People might have missed it.”
Nationwide took plenty of heat, especially on social media, for an ad that ended up being among the most talked-about from the game.
“I’m not apologizing. I put a tough message in the middle of a party. I didn’t intend to ruin the party,” Jauchius said.
Jauchius said the ad was meant to be a conversation starter.
“Let’s put an ad in the largest media platform in the world, not to sell insurance, but to start a conversation and raise awareness of the No. 1 killer of children in the country,” he said.
mawilliams@dispatch.com
@BizMarkWilliams
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