Kathryn Knowles, founder of Cura Financial Services, called it "beyond despicable" and said she would be reporting it to the Financial Conduct Authority and the Advertising Standards Agency.
Her comments were matched by senior insurance advisers across the UK, who branded it a step too far when it comes to getting people to think about the importance of life insurance.
Alan Lakey, founder of CI Expert, told FTAdviser: "While there is a small tang of dry humour there (somewhere) it is distasteful".
It’s definitely distasteful to victims of Harold shipman but also to all victims of murder.Joanna Streames, VMISThe 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.
Victims' families
While some users tweeted they found the advert funny (see below), professional advisers said the advert went far beyond dark comedy and would prove hurtful to the victims' families.
Tim Morris, IFA with Russell & Co, expressed horror when he saw it. "That is so very wrong. You can't put that out in public", he told FTAdviser, while Joanna Streames, founder of Velvet Mortgage and Insure, said: "Our industry doesn’t have the best reputation.
"People need proper conversations on a very important subject proving a lifeline for them at the most challenging times of life.
"This goes against all of that for me. I also have a dark sense of humour, at times, but this is too much for my standards.
"Shall we have the Yorkshire ripper on next?"
Streames added: "It’s definitely distasteful to victims of Harold Shipman but also to all victims of murder."
Similarly, Jiten Varsani, mortgage and protection adviser for London Money Financial Services, said: "I, too, have a weird and dark sense of humour. However, in this case, I think this is very distasteful and highly disrespectful towards the victim’s families."
Steps too far
Lakey said this latest advert follows on from another recent Facebook advert from Dead Happy, "showing a turd and likening ‘old protection plans’ to it.
He added: "Shaking up the market is one thing but wallowing in crassness is several steps too far."
As reported previously by FTAdviser, the ASA has in the past taken a dim view of similar adverts or companies taking out 'inappropriately timed' advertising slots.
FTAdviser has also raised concern about the way in which Facebook adverts have 'targeted' people with seemingly cheap and easy insurance.
For example, 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.
Dead Happy has run some great campaigns which have seemed a ‘little’ controversial in the past but with this one, I fear they have crossed the line.Jiten VarsaniThe ASA has also investigated 'distasteful' insurance adverts in the past, such as the GoCompare Car Crash advert from 2019, which was accused of trivialising car crashes and had more than 300 complaints lodged against it.
The ASA did not uphold complaints about the GoCompare advert.
DeadHappy response
DeadHappy was approached by FTAdviser to ask what it was intending with this advert, and why it believes a shock factor sometimes might be needed when it comes to selling life insurance.
Andy Knott, founder of DeadHappy, said: "The industry likes to call DeadHappy a disruptive life insurance company. This isn't why we exist. There are 8.5mn adults in the UK that potentially need (or hopefully even want) life insurance protection, but currently remain unprotected.
Being provocative is different to being offensive and it is of course never our intention to offend or upset people. It is our intention to make people stop and think.Andy Knott, DeadHappy"The industry call this ’the protection gap’, and the unfortunate reality is that it's growing daily. We’re not simply disruptive, we’re just trying to make better products in order to close the gap."
Knott added: "We are called DeadHappy and our strapline is ‘Life insurance to die for’ so we are aware of the provocative (and to some the very shocking) nature of our brand.
"But being provocative is different to being offensive and it is of course never our intention to offend or upset people. It is our intention to make people stop and think. If however you have been personally distressed by this advert, we do sincerely apologise."
However, Varsani said it was important to highlight the need for protection amongst the public, and said he often liked the Dead Happy campaigns.
He added: "Dead Happy has run some great campaigns which have seemed a ‘little’ controversial in the past but with this one, I fear they have crossed the line.
"This can do more damage to the industry than good."
In DeadHappy's response, Knott also said: "Death is still a taboo subject in our society, which is why we feel so passionately about 'changing attitudes to death'.
We do take risks with our brand and sometimes we may step over the line, whatever or wherever that line may be, and whoever chooses to draw it."
simoney.kyriakou@ft.com
Note: This has been edited at 14:00 January 24 to include the full response from Andy Knott, founder of DeadHappy
