Nationwide Makes Mindy Kaling Disappear in One Commercial, Kills a Kid in Another (Update)

Buzz meet buzzkill.

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Complex Original

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Nationwide took the old-school approach of combining some celebrities for their first Super Bowl commercial (Mindy Kaling tried to kiss Matt Damon when she thought she was invisible). That is guaranteed to get some buzz regardless of how good it is. For their second commercial, the insurance company showed a child experiencing a lot of fun, live-changing events, but then revealed that that child was dead and could never do any of those things. The ad was for a cause: to reduce child deaths in car accidents. But that was a buzzkill.

Wanna see dead people? Watch the ad above. But here's some advice for the insurance company:

Esurance's ads featured Lindsay Lohan and Bryan Cranston. Again, buzz ensued (even though Lohan's was meh). 

At least the game is good.

UPDATE: After traumatizing the entire nation last night, Nationwide has issued a statement about their deathly depressing ad. Here's what they had to say:​

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.

They're right—at least we all now know that our big-screen TVs can fall and crush our infant children to death.

[via Business Insider]

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