Dear LPG

I have always been fascinated by the way language is used in adverts. 

They say that statistics can be used to prove anything, and I believe that the science behind the information given in advertisements can often sound as sensational, regardless of how misleading they are.

I find it absolutely intriguing that some of the statements used to influence what we buy often mean very little but appear to offer so much.

I hope that LPG has been able to find a life insurance advert that I have seen recently, where in one and a half minutes we are convinced that we should buy into what is on offer.  We are told that the premium is likely to be less than £7 per month and then given the news that after the first year we will get 10% of the annual premium back.   That news can perhaps sound impressive, until you do a bit of simple maths.

Firstly let’s round up the premium to £7 per year to keep the calculation simple.  For all of us older people who remember our times tables, the annual fee will be £84; so what they are telling us is that we will get about £8.40 back. 

I wonder how many people are impressed by the fact that they are going to get this incentive, and how many are truly impressed when they receive less than £10 a year later.  I have no doubt that by the time this amount is received most people will not even remember what the advert promised.

I am not saying that the insurance on offer here is bad, but it is a good thing that we older members of the population are more likely to be able to do this bit of mental arithmetic more readily than the younger people that the advert is obviously aimed at, and also that most of us are way past having a need for this product.

…Just a thought.

TF, Lee

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