According to various news sources within the Daily Mail stable, when Tim Soong, literal-minded bassist with never-before-heard-of-and-probably-never-heard-of‚again “popular music” ensemble Roguetune saw grizzled trouser-stretching shirt-free rock legend Iggy Pop prancing around in ads for car insurer Swiftcover he quickly concluded that this was the insurer for him. Imagine his dismay, then, on being told that musicians are not welcome chez Swiftcover!
“I got it Swiftcovered. I got insurance on my insurance.” Mr Pop avers fervently in his frenetic TV spots, before commanding: “Do it. Get a life. Get Swiftcovered.”
Following a dozen written complaints, advertising standards watchdog the ASA has stepped in to investigate. Presumably it will wish to consider inter alia whether the purchase of motor insurance can justifiably be equated with getting a life.
When an aggrieved Mr Soong queried the apparent anomaly of Pop’s acceptance and his own rejection, a Swiftcover employee allegedly explained that the discrepancy was due to Mr Pop’s being American.
Another rejected musician, Felix Wright, was apparently told that Swiftcover was not familiar with the details of Mr Pop’s personal life (probably for the best), but that in any case he is not a Swiftcover policyholder.
Further shocking evidence that advertising may not always provide a fair and impartial reflection of insurers’ amenability to particular risk types came in the form of the twin revelations a) that esure could not help Michael Winner because he is a film director and b) that Sheila’s Wheels would reject the pink Cadillac featured in its own TV commercials ‚ even, presumably, should its garishly styled occupants undertake to sing less and wear seat belts more.