OT: So How About Those Superbowl Commercials?

Submitted by OccaM on

Man, they were terrible. Way too serious... The SJW commercials are fine and dandy every once in awhile, but it felt like every other commercial was about some depressing cause that totally killed the mood. I know it's the Superbowl, more viewers and awareness yada yada, but Nationwide even had a dead kid commercial in there...seriously? 

The Liam Neeson and Fiat ones were probably the best ones. 

xxxxNateDaGreat

February 2nd, 2015 at 12:19 AM ^

I majored in Advertising in college and the first rule of advertising that every one of my professors would constantly pound into my head was, "Make sure that your message is simple, clear, and easy to understand,"

So, if someone asked me what Nationwide's message was, I would say that it felt like they were telling me to buy life insurace for my child because I never know when my neglect might get them killed.

Horrible, horrible, horrible idea/execution/everything. This should not have ever been brought up even in  brainstorming.

JamieH

February 2nd, 2015 at 4:20 AM ^

how I will never buy anything from fucking Nationwide ever in my enitre fucking life, and neither will anyone else in my entire extended family.

If that is what they wanted, then they got it.

My sister-in-law (Pats fan) lost her 8-year old son (to a sudden illness, not a "preventable accident") last June.  The commercial was horrifying to not just her, but to our entire family.

 

xxxxNateDaGreat

February 2nd, 2015 at 9:42 AM ^

Nine times out of ten, I would just say "touché." This was the tenth.

That rule of "bad press is still press" works out great for smaller brands in competitive/obscure markets where you desperately need to stay relevant if you have any hopes of staying in business, like GoDaddy.com and their joke-y, faux scandalous, sexualized ads and month long pre-Superbowl build ups... but Nationwide is not in that scenario.

They are a well known brand thatplaced a bad ad in the biggest ad day of the year in America that basically said, "Hey, buy our insurance in case you kill your kid!" and not in a dark, black humor kind of way. THAT may have given them the discussion they craved with less of a backlash. But instead, they went the overly serious route and now people are sad and pissed and are now boycotting Nationwide because of the commercial.

JamieH

February 2nd, 2015 at 12:02 PM ^

Their patheitic "we are just trying to raise awareness about childhood accidents, please go to this website, which is TOTALLY different than the website that we sell insurance on, really it is!" garbage is just embarassing. 



I can understand a small brand wanting to start off a firestorm like this, but Nationwide?  Everyone watching the NFL already knew about them because they advertise incessantly.

Wolverine Devotee

February 2nd, 2015 at 12:04 AM ^

The horses saving the puppy was cute. 

The one with the guy just humming at the bed side of the girl was just hilarious because it made no sense. 

Other than that......surprised there were no hilarious Doritos commercials.

In reply to by Wolverine Devotee

UMfan21

February 2nd, 2015 at 12:28 AM ^

Dude.  If Brian sees this, the rest of your point total is toast.  Go watch Big Lewbowski.  Now.  At the very least.

Wolverine Devotee

February 2nd, 2015 at 12:39 AM ^

I'm familar with the movie's memes. "yeah, well, that's just like, your opinion, man."

What can I say? I'm behind on the movie thing. I didn't see Billy Madison until two years ago (Ace's favorite movie).

I've never seen any of the Godfather movies, either and saw Star Wars V for the first time last year. The only one I saw prior to that was III when it came out like 10 years ago. 

95% of the time I'm watching something, it's sports or sports-related.

 

mgoblue0970

February 2nd, 2015 at 1:31 AM ^

I'm with WD on this one... name 10 movies and I probably haven't seen 9 of them.  I've got too much other stuff going on in my life and not to mention I've flown 120,000 miles in the last two years.  Plus, there are too many people in Hollywood I'd rather NOT spend my $$$ on.

Funny story from a couple of years ago... I'm watching my nieces (grade school age) because mom and dad had to leave town on an emergency.  When I put them to bed, they were pissed their room didn't have a TV in it.  In fact, they told me, "you must be poor because your house only has one TV!"