ASA investigates misleading insurance ad

Adverts for Lucky Life/Me started to appear on Google earlier this year, making reference to cheap life insurance policies and monthly prize draws.

The adverts claimed people would be entered into monthly prize draws to win up to £10,000 in cash, and featured testimonials from alleged consumers - including one person named 'Ali G' (see below).

An insurance specialist was concerned enough to flag the adverts with the ASA, as they were worried that consumers could be misled.

Even though the service did not appear to be available, the complainant - who did not wish to be named - said it could potentially confuse people looking for life cover and end up putting them off getting much-needed insurance.

The adverts for Lucky Life claimed people could get cover for £10.30 a month, despite no consumer details taken. There was no reference to an actual provider, nor was there any Financial Conduct Authority authorisation number. Lucky Life/Me is not registered on Companies House.

It's good to see the ASA is taking these types of adverts seriously.Steve Casey

The site luckylife.me is still showing up in a Google search, although the adverts and the site hosting them have been taken down following the ASA's investigation.

According to the ASA, the site was only a 'test site' created by a third party, which agreed to remove the adverts and website as soon as the ASA spoke with the company.

The Watchdog said: "A complainant challenged whether the claims that the advertiser offered life insurance policies and free prize draws were misleading because they understood that this wasn't actually the case.

"The advertiser stated that the site was a variant of a client's business and was built as a test. As we received an assurance that ads would be removed and the site was no longer active we considered the matter resolved and closed the case."

Example 2: Testimonial from 'Ali G'

Although the matter was resolved informally without the ASA needing to make a ruling, the fact the watchdog investigated the claim was met with approval by the insurance industry.

Over the past couple of years, insurers and advisers have campaigned for regulatory authorities and advertising agencies to crack down on fraudulent or misleading insurance adverts where there is consumer harm and which could lead to mistrust in the industry.

Example 3: The 'Congratulations On Your Policy ploy'

Vicky Churcher, intermediary director for provider AIG Life, has been helping spearhead a campaign to stamp out rogue adverts. 

She said: "It’s good to see the ASA is acting quickly to stop misleading adverts from causing harm to consumers. It’s important that every advert promoting life insurance helps to build trust in the protection industry.

"AIG Life continues to be an advocate through our #keepprotectiontidy campaign for identifying and reporting poor quality and misleading advertisements which could lead to customer detriment.”

Alain Desmier, founder of Contact State, said the fact the watchdog will investigate insurance adverts "sends an important message to the life insurance industry" and urged advisers and providers to report any suspicious advert and stamp out bad practice.

Misleading adverts continue to result in misplaced negativity to the sector as a whole.Alan Knowles

He added: "Misleading lead generation will not be tolerated and should be called out and reported by the industry as and when it appears.

"Firms that buy leads need to be absolutely sure of the sources they are acquiring customer data from and will need to prove they have done robust due diligence."

Steve Casey, marketing director for Square Health, has worked with FTAdviser in the past to interrogate and crack down on suspicious insurance adverts.

He commented: "It's good to see the ASA is taking these types of adverts seriously. Hopefully this will be a catalyst to ensure that customers are better protected from those who may wish to take advantage of them."

Similarly, Alan Knowles, managing director of Cura Financial Services, said: "It’s always a shame to see adverts that mislead people into enquiring about insurance.

"Many of us within this sector work incredibly hard to improve trust within insurance, and misleading adverts continue to result in misplaced negativity to the sector as a whole."

Background

FTAdviser raised red flags in April 2020 when it was discovered some unscrupulous advertisers were using the Covid crisis to frighten consumers into making rash decisions about their insurance. 

As reported at the time, misleading and fraudulent lead generation adverts were populating Facebook and other social media accounts.

At the time, Dan Thut, operations director of insurance advertising firm Rocketer, said fraudulent companies have been using this time to prey on scared and vulnerable people, using social media platforms to promote their "misleading ads".

simoney.kyriakou@ft.com