The Advertising Standards Agency has ruled in favour of two life insurance TV adverts from Neilson Financial Services, trading as Cover Today.
The two life insurance adverts, which were shown last year, raised complaints from two individuals questioning whether Cover Today/Neilson Financial Services could justifiably make certain claims.
The first advert, which was seen on 25 October 2022, featured a woman on a walk with her family.
She said: "Cover Today .... are the only over 50s life insurer with no waiting period, unlike other insurers who could make you wait up to two years.
"With Cover Today you’re fully covered from day one […] Cover Today are the only over 50s life insurer with no waiting period and no annoying trips to the doctors either […].”
Cover Today offer immediate cover for death due to any cause.TV advert, October 2022Two scenes included on-screen text that stated “The only over 50s life insurer with no waiting period”.
The ad included small on-screen text at the bottom of the ad that stated: “Compared to current market providers of Over 50 Life Insurance only.
"Cover Today offer immediate cover for death due to any cause. Visit covertoday.co.uk/compare-over-50-life-insurance”.
The second ad, seen on 19 November 2022, featured a man sitting in a cafe who followed a similar script.
A voice-over stated, “Cover Today are the only over 50s life insurer with no waiting period, everyone else makes you wait up to two years. Get covered in minutes with no annoying trips to the doctor […]”
This ad also included two scenes which included on-screen text that stated, “The only over 50s life insurer with no waiting period” and the same, small, on-screen text at the bottom of the ad as the October screening.
Right to reply
The complaints received by the ASA challenged whether the implication in the ads that Cover Today was the only over 50s life insurer to offer immediate cover was misleading and could be substantiated.
In its investigation, the ASA asked Neilson Financial Services Ltd t/a Cover Today to respond.
In its response, Neilson said Cover Today was indeed the only over 50s life insurance product with no waiting period.
While other companies may have offered accidental death cover immediately, they all had a waiting period before the full benefit amount could be claimed for death by any cause.
The response said they "believed that the ads made sufficiently clear that the comparison related to when full cover (cover for death by any cause) could be obtained and did not inform or imply to viewers that other providers of over 50s life insurance offered no immediate cover".
Cover Today were the only provider that did not require a waiting period until the full benefits could be claimed.ASAAccording to Cover Today, the ads focused on explaining the unique feature of Cover Today’s product - namely that consumers did not have to wait before a claim could be made, regardless of the cause of death.
The company also pointed to information in the adverts, which included a web address in the qualifying text that enabled viewers to verify the claims.
It provided a comparison with the largest providers of over 50s life insurance in the UK market and directed readers to the Fairer Finance (a research and ratings agency that provided data on financial products) website which provided further substantiation.
Clearcast, which provided the advertising slot for Cover Today, told the ASA it had approved the claim “Cover Today are the only insurer to offer immediate cover” on the basis of Fairer Finance data that Cover Today supplied to Clearcast, and provided a copy of that data to the ASA.
Complaints dismissed
After its investigation, the ASA did not uphold the two complaints.
The ASA considered that viewers would understand both ads to mean that Cover Today’s over 50s life insurance gave immediate cover for death by any cause, and that they were the only UK insurer which did so.
Because the ads referred to being “fully covered” with Cover Today, consumers would likely understand that other insurers may give them some cover immediately but that it could take two years until they were fully covered.
The ASA said: "We assessed the evidence provided. The Fairer Finance rating for over 50s life insurance rated a large number of providers taking into consideration how long after a policy started until the full benefits could be claimed.
We therefore considered that the comparative claims ... had been substantiated.ASA"Cover Today’s internal research provided information on the waiting period for full cover to start for the same providers as those referenced in the Fairer Finance rating, as well as several others, which we understood covered the full market.
"Cover Today were the only provider that did not require a waiting period until the full benefits could be claimed.
"We therefore considered that the comparative claims that Cover Today were the only insurer to offer over 50s life insurance with no waiting period for full cover to begin had been substantiated."
Therefore, because Cover Today was the only over 50s life insurer to offer immediate cover for death by any cause, the ASA has concluded that the ads were not misleading.
The agency did not find that Cover Today/Neilsen Financial Services was in breach, and therefore no further action was necessary.
Other complaints
The ASA has been ruling on an increasing number of insurance adverts across a range of media. Earlier this year, as reported first by FTAdviser, the ASA found against a Dead Happy advert featuring serial killer Harold Shipman.
The advert in question, which first circulated on Facebook, bears the caption: "Life Insurance. Because you never know who your doctor might be", and features a large photograph of Shipman.
Shipman was convicted in January 2000 of murdering 15 elderly patients in his care.
As serial killers go, he has one of the highest body counts in recent history and was suspected of a further 250 deaths, which have never been proved.
He committed suicide during his life sentence in Wakefield Prison in 2004.
A flurry of complaints and intense media scrutiny following FTAdviser's exclusive saw the ASA rule in February 2023 that life insurance firm DeadHappy’s use of the advert had caused “unjustified distress”, as well as “serious and widespread offence”.
simoney.kyriakou@ft.com
