Lead generation firm CleverKeith has been reprimanded for an advert which appeared to depict life insurance as a moneymaking scheme and for implying it was an advice firm which could get consumers a “protection payment”.
It was also criticised for not being clear that it passed on consumer details to advisers and brokers.
The Advertising Standard Authority (ASA) upheld two complaints, banned one of the firm’s adverts, criticised it for the misrepresentation and told it not to claim or imply it was acting outside its role.
In response to the findings, CleverKeith said it worked hard to remain compliant and that the issues raised were commonly used by other lead generators.
However, it added it had taken on board the ASA’s feedback, committed to addressing the issues and had started using a third-party compliance review company for its advertising.
Pair of complaints
The ASA’s chastising came after a pair of complainants both questioned two elements of a CleverKeith ad for being misleading.
First because they argued the ad misrepresented a life insurance policy as a money-making scheme; and second for falsely implying the marketer was acting for purposes outside its trade, business, craft or profession.
The ad shown on YouTube depicted a man receiving a £237,000 life insurance payment in his bank account.
A voice-over accompanying the video said: “If you’re a British dad aged 35-45 and don’t have life insurance, I want you to know about this. So, some of you will probably be shocked by this but as you can see, my current bank balance is over £237,000.
“The reason it’s so high is because yesterday our family received our protection payment. Now, we’re not the only ones. Thousands of parents without life insurance have been getting this protection for their families too.
“As you can see, this is a huge amount of money, so it’s going to make a massive difference to our lives. Click the button to see if you could get this protection too.”
The button below the video took consumers to CleverKeith’s website.
‘Life insurance only pays out on death’
Stillbloom Ltd, which trades as CleverKeith, responded to the ASA’s concerns by noting that the terms “protection” and “life insurance” were understood to be interchangeable and saying consumers would understand life insurance policies only paid out in the event of the subject’s death.
It added the £237,578 figure related to the amount of cover available from an insurer to a healthy, male, non-smoker through one of its brokers on 9 April.
CleverKeith argued that the phrase “Click the button to see if you could get this protection too” was neither a stated nor implied claim that by clicking through to CleverKeith’s website consumers could qualify for the product offered.
And it noted that while the age group stated in the advert of 35- to 45- year olds, were less likely to die than individuals in older age groups, that was offset by comparatively lower premiums.
Finally, CleverKeith said the ad only directed consumers to its website and did not give the impression it would advise consumers on how to receive a “protection payment”. It said their website footer made clear the status as a lead generation service.
‘Ad exaggerated the benefit’
However, while the ASA accepted some of the points, it rejected the overall arguments and upheld both elements of the complaints.
On the first point the ASA said: “We had not seen evidence that consumers could obtain the figure shown in the ad, and considered the claims misrepresented life insurance as a way of obtaining a large sum of money in the form of a ‘protection payment,’” it said.
“We also considered that the ad exaggerated the benefit to the group mentioned, i.e. males aged 35-45, who we understood were less likely to be able to benefit from the policy being offered. We therefore concluded that the ad was misleading.”
On the second point, the ASA said it understood that CleverKeith was a lead generation company that would pass on consumers’ details to insurance brokers and financial advisers.
“We considered that information was not mentioned or made sufficiently clear in the ad,” it said.
“We concluded that the ad falsely implied that CleverKeith was acting for purposes outside its trade, business, craft or profession, and did not make clear its commercial intent, and therefore breached the code.”
As a result, the ASA has banned the advert from reappearing in its present state and told CleverKeith to ensure that its future marketing communications did not misrepresent life insurance as a money-making scheme.
It must also make clear that it passes on enquirers’ details to third parties and does not provide advice itself.
And the regulator told the firm not to claim or imply that it was acting for purposes outside its trade or business and to make clear the commercial intent of its marketing.
‘We work hard to keep ads compliant’
Stillbloom director David Messant issued a statement in response to the ruling.
“We were surprised that the ASA identified some compliance issues with our ads, since we work hard to keep our ads compliant; both from an ASA and FCA perspective,” he said.
“Additionally, the issues that the ASA identified are common practise by many other lead generators in our industry.
“Nonetheless, we are happy to follow the ASA’s recommendations, we have taken on board the ASA’s feedback and have committed to address these issues moving forwards.
“Additionally, within the last six months (after the advert in question was published) we have been utilising the services of a third-party Financial Conduct Authority compliance review company who regularly review our ads before publishing.
“As a company we understand how important compliance is to the industry and we will continue to prioritise compliance as much as possible while delivering our services to clients. We welcome any feedback.”