ASIC is continuing its surveillance of online advertising.

It has announced that Virgin Money (Australia) Pty Limited has paid $30,600 in penalties after ASIC issued three infringement notices for misleading online and television advertising in relation to its ‘Quick & Easy’ life insurance product, which appeared on television up until May 2013, and online up until March 2014.

ASIC was concerned that the advertising contained the following misleading representations about the process involved in applying for ‘Quick & Easy’ and the life insurance coverage provided under the product:

• ‘No health or lifestyle questions’ would be asked by Virgin Money when in fact, the ‘Quick & Easy’ application form contained specific health and lifestyle questions, such as queries around smoking habits. Responses to these questions were then used to calculate premiums.
• ‘Weight is not a factor that affects coverage of the Product’, when in fact weight could be a relevant factor in determining coverage offered under ‘Quick & Easy’.

Advertising should always go through a clearance procedure which includes factual correctness.