For some, watching every play in the Super Bowl is secondary – even though this year's event had its share of drama in the last seconds.

And having my attention diverted by my grandkids caused me to watch with half an eyeball on the tv when the commercials came on.

After all, what’s so unique about Super Bowl commercials aside from their “water cooler” value anyway.
There are always a couple – like the Chevy truck commercial that made everyone think their TV was on the blink a la “The Sopranos” final scene.

But while there were a couple that conjured up images of societal issues – such as the PSA from nomore.org bringing awareness to the scourge of domestic violence – the one that hit home for plenty of viewers was the Nationwide Insurance commercial featuring the little boy that wasn’t going to grow up.

The boy in the commercial says he’ll miss all those boyhood and manhood moments in his life because he died in a household accident.

Cut to the bathroom, where an overflowing tub contains the message that preventable accidents are the number one cause of childhood deaths.

That wasn’t the only image. There was also the visual of an opened kitchen cabinet suggesting that a child had gotten a hold of some household cleaner; and one of a flat screen TV that apparently had killed a child climbing on its cabinet.

The marketing campaign is all about “Nationwide – Making Safe Happen!”

Really?

More like: Nationwide – Buy an insurance policy so that this doesn’t happen to you?

Not exactly the kind of stuff that makes you want to head for the chips and dips. Hurl them would be more like it. Nor would it make you want to call you agent the next day and buy a life insurance policy.

Or so I'd think

To me it was just a tawdry way to play on parents’ fears where they already freak out over every little thing?

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