MEMPHIS, Tenn. – A Nationwide Insurance commercial nabbed national headlines during Sunday night’s Super Bowl, and at least one organization in the Mid-South admits, it has Memphians talking.
In the advertisement, a young boy talks about several things he will never be able to do, like get married, because he died in an accident.
The ad shows several other images, like an overflowing bathtub and a shattered big screen TV.
“I didn’t care nothing about that commercial,” said Mid-South resident Dale Larimore.
“I thought it was real sad. It shouldn’t have been on there for that kind of a program,” said Jim Gordon.
Still, Nationwide defended its ad, saying it was meant to start important conversations.
Le Bonheur’s Director of Injury Prevention Susan Helms works with the local chapter of Safe Kids.
“It [the ad] created a conversation that needs to happen. Whether it needed to happen during the Super Bowl or not, that’s another story,” Helms said.
Helms showed WREG 2012 statistics from the CDC, which revealed that in the U.S., the top cause of death for children aged one to adults aged 44 was unintentional injury.
Safe Kids in the Mid-South reaches out to parents to spread awareness about injury and prevention.
“Anything from a car crash that could happen, we have to be in the child safety seat or buckled up. Anything like a drowning, we have to take swim lessons,” Helms said.
Situations like these are no strangers to Memphis.
WREG covered an incident last August where a jogger rescued two kids from a reservoir after their stroller rolled in. The children’s mother said something went wrong with the brakes when she was talking to a friend.
The city of Memphis is preparing to launch two parenting centers by March to help equip parents.
Helms encourages parents who want to learn more about injury prevention to call Safe Kids at 901-287-6730.