Scare Tactics or Clever Marketing?
Posted by Cap in Even More Ramblings |
11 Comments to “Scare Tactics or Clever Marketing?”
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October 4th, 2006 at 5:39 am
Actually, I wholly approve of this ad. Because that’s what life insurance is for, and most people will never ask themselves this question. The thing that I disapprove of are those cheesy Barbara-Walters-shot commercials with babies who peddle kid life insurance, “for their protection”. Against what? Robots?
October 4th, 2006 at 6:50 am
Both!
Does it make it wrong? No, because technically it is right — although I can understand why people would be put off by it.
October 4th, 2006 at 9:27 am
Well i think its clever marketing.. not so scare tatics.. its very similar to the way people in other areas of the world such as vietnam or mexico.. use malnourished children to get money from the tourists..if you ever walk the streets and see these battered children with their hands out.. you know exactly what i mean..
October 4th, 2006 at 3:08 pm
I agree with Kira, it is the purpose of term life insurance. When my wife and I were thinking of getting term life, she didn’t want to talk it because she didn’t want to think of me passing away. Sure, that is sweet, but it is still something that needs to be done. Ignoring it only leaves you unprepared. Thinking of the blunt effects makes people wake up and realize they might need it.
October 4th, 2006 at 7:31 pm
Yes, very scary….but then isn’t death scary, and isn’t life insurance there to help take some of that worry away!
These are the questions that should be asked…if people have taken care of that possibility in some way already, why would they be insulted from such a question?
If they have not and they now recognize that they are doing so for some selfish reason….then they might feel a bit of shame and guilt…and if that causes them to do the right thing….that’s fine too!
October 4th, 2006 at 10:49 pm
Isn’t term life insurance a scam? Like if you really want the insurance you buy it for your whole life, and it can actually be an asset you collect later.
October 5th, 2006 at 2:29 am
well I definitely agree with everyone. that’s the point of life insurance anyway, to protect those dependent on your income.
now that I think about it, “clever marketing” isn’t the right word though.. I couldn’t think of another. I suppose the title: “Too much scare tactic or just right” would have worked better.
the advertisement obviously worked to a degree since I saved the image. I just thought the picture of the kid all sad was a bit annoying, but that’s subjective.
obviously as Kira said, if this was some insurance for a baby/kid (swap the Dad… to: protect your precious children), then it’ll be a complete joke. Even if evil robots offed my kid (sniff), I don’t think they’ll be producing any income that my spouse and I will be depending on. hopefully anyway (to that and the evil robot scenario).
Mike: I believe it’s the other way around (sometimes anyway). for a lot of people, term life will be a better choice. mostly because of the lower premium.
plus, if you’re going to buy whole life because of the cash value later, it’ll be a better option to buy term life and use the savings to invest in other investment instrument that yields better returns.
October 5th, 2006 at 9:26 am
Both, but those quote are for 10-years, and by looking at that kid you’ll probably need a longer term than that to pay for college ;)
October 5th, 2006 at 2:46 pm
This reminds me of a sketch show here (it’s about 20 seconds into this video):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNRO-IQ1Pmw&mode=related&search=
October 6th, 2006 at 8:09 pm
Term life isn’t a scam, quite the contrary, whole life is the scam. You pay into it until it is paid up. When you die you ONLY get the FACE value of the policy. Your benificiaries do not get the WHOLE amount of what was paid into it all of those years. It is also a POOR investment tool. Some will tell you the opposite.
I don’t sell insurance. I left that business 15 years ago. I just listen to Dave Ramsey.
May 30th, 2010 at 4:05 pm
Actually, Tina, you don’t understand whole life and how it works from your comment. Oh, and Dave Ramsey is a entertainer. He suffers no ramifications for his bad advice he gives people. Tragic really.