Nationwide Dead Kid

About

Nationwide Dead Kid refers to the child character featured in the Super Bowl XLIX commercial for the American insurance company Nationwide in which a young boy lists a series of things he will never be able to experience in life before revealing that he was killed in an accident. Upon its airing in early February 2015, the commercial was met by mixed reactions online, with many on Twitter criticizing and mocking its emotionally exploitative premise.

Origin

During Super Bowl XLIX held on February 1st, 2015, the insurance company Nationwide released a commercial titled “Make Safe Happen,” in which a boy laments that he will never “ride a bike,” “get cooties,” “learn to fly,” “travel the world” or “get married” because he “died from an accident” (shown below). Within 72 hours, a YouTube upload of the commercial gained over 4.9 million views and 5,400 comments.

Spread

That evening, Redditor MerMista submitted the commercial in a post titled “Darkest Super Bowl ad ever?” to the /r/videos^[2] subreddit, where it garnered upwards of 3,500 votes (79% upvoted) in the first 48 hours. Meanwhile, comedian Patton Oswalt posted several jokes about the commercial on Twitter (shown below).

Also on February 1st, Twitter user Jared Smith tweeted a screen captured image of the boy with the caption “I would have run it with Lynch / but I died,” mocking the Seattle Seahawks for failing to make a final play using the team’s star running back Marshawn Lynch (shown below). Within two days, the tweet gathered more than 20,600 retweets and 15,700 favorites.

Shortly after, other Twitter users posted additional captioned versions of the Nationwide screen capture (shown below).^[6]^[7]^[8]

On February 2nd, Redditor Nevek_Green submitted a Scumbag Steve image macro criticizing Nationwide for being dishonest in the commercial to the /r/AdviceAnimals^[4] subreddit (shown below). In less than 24 hours, the post gained over 2,700 votes (88% upvoted). The same day, the news sites Daily Mail^[9] and Bustle^[5] highlighted notable image macros mocking the ad.

Nationwide Press Release

In response to the online backlash for the commercial, Nationwide^[3] issued a press release claiming that the purpose of the commercial was to raise awareness about childhood death due to injuries occurring in the home.

“Preventable injuries around the home are the leading cause of childhood deaths in America. Most people don’t 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--the 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.”