By Hayley Peterson

Nationwide caused an uproar with its Super Bowl ad about accidents that kill children.
Critics called it morbid and disturbing and accused the company of using child deaths to sell insurance.

But it was especially difficult to watch for Frank Eliason, whose daughter, Gia, died in 2004 at the age of 4 during a liver transplant.

"We are over 10 years later, and I still think of her every day," Eliason wrote on LinkedIn. "Now imagine escaping this troubled world for a few hours to enjoy the Super Bowl. It is an escape that only comes once a year. I enjoy watching the game with my girls, and try to forget the troubles the world brings. Then this commercial comes on."

The ad features a young boy saying he'd never learn to fly, travel with his best friend, or get married because he died in an accident.

Then the camera cuts to a bathtub overflowing with water and open kitchen cabinets with spilled chemicals.

"How would you feel if you lost a child for any reason?" Eliason said. "Can you imagine the discussion it creates with your other children who are 7 and 8 about the sibling they never met? Simply put this brought nothing but pain to parents who lost a child, no matter the cause of death."

Nationwide responded to the uproar over its ad and said it wasn't intended to be a sales pitch.

"The sole purpose of this message was to start a conversation, not sell insurance," the company said in a statement. "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."

But according to Eliason, "this is not the way to start a dialogue of any kind."

"It is obvious to me that no one involved within the company or their advertising agency has ever suffered such a horrible loss," he wrote. "I certainly hope they never do."

Read Eliason's full post below.  

Let me introduce you to Gia. She was born in 2000. She never learned to ride a bike. Or got cooties. She never learned to fly. Or travel the world with her best friend. She will never get married. She didn't grow up, because she died during a liver transplant surgery as a result of liver cancer. She passed away on July 26, 2004.

Imagine Gia was your daughter. It is easy for me, because she is my daughter. Now we are over 10 years later, and I still think of her everyday. Now imagine escaping this troubled world for a few hours to enjoy the Super Bowl. It is an escape that only comes once a year. I enjoy watching the game with my girls, and try to forget the troubles the world brings. Then this commercial comes on:

How would you feel if you lost a child for any reason? Can you imagine the discussion it creates with your other children who are 7 & 8 about the sibling they never met? Simply put this brought nothing but pain to parents who lost a child, no matter the cause of death.

I know Nationwide has issued a statement stating that they were hoping to start a dialogue regarding safety in the home. That may be a noble goal, but this is not the way to start a dialogue of any kind. It is obvious to me that no one involved within the company or their advertising agency has ever suffered such a horrible loss. I certainly hope they never do.

Insurance is supposed to be about making you whole, but there is no insurance in the world that can ever make the loss of a child whole. In my view this commercial was much more than a downer, as the Washington Post stated. To me it was personal.

Here's the ad: