hear or hear of

[neb090]

You may have seen or heard the two hard-hitting, in-your-face commercials: The angry and distraught mother of 8-year-old Xzavier, who lost his legs and is paralyzed from the diaphragm down after being hit by a texting motorist. And a young father who killed three Amish children riding in the family's horse-drawn buggy just after texting "I love you" to his wife.

In this paragraph, could I use heard of?

Link: AT&T spending millions to get It Can Wait message across

 

[Tarheel]

No. If you "heard of" them somebody told you about them or you read about them. If you "heard" them you watched them.

 

[neb090]

No. If you "heard of" them somebody told you about them or you read about them. If you "heard" them you watched them.

But in my OP paragraph, couldn't I interpret it as "somebody told me about the commercials or I read about the commercials?"

 

[emsr2d2]

You may have seen or heard the two hard-hitting, in-your-face commercials:

Since the context is clearly about commercials, "seen" means "seen on the TV/internet" and "heard" means "heard on the radio".

 

[teechar]

Please note that "hear" and "hear of" mean different things. In the OP, either can work, but the meaning would be different. Also note that the last part starting with "And a young father ..." is not a complete sentence.