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 […].”
Two 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".
According 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.
