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Aviva suffered a massive backlash on social media site Twitter last night against its placement of an advert for income protection (IP) showing a motorbike accident during ITV's popular period drama Downton Abbey.
The advert aims to show how IP can safeguard customers' standard of living in the event they are unable to work, for example due to an accident.
But angry viewers labelled it "depressing" and said it spoiled their enjoyment of the eagerly awaited start of the second series of the hit show.
Many on Twitter were so outraged at the advert that they vowed they would never buy another Aviva product.
Below are the results of a Twitter search during and just after the show for 'Aviva Downton Abbey':
EddCrocker Edward Crocker
Aviva sponsorship of downton abbey is shameful does this mean that all bikers are going to have an accident, rubbish.
ryanmills Ryan Mills
The Aviva sponsorship of Downton Abbey are so bloody depressing for a show that's meant to be entertaining. Poorly thought out strategy.
davehudson77 Dave Hudson
@avivaukgi I will never buy aviva products thanks to their Sunday evening-ruining adverts on Downton Abbey! Sack your marketing director!
TheRothSays tom roth.
Aviva idents on Downton Abbey, shocking. "Gary" instantly amongst the most appalling characters on tv
Weddingfilms4U Vanessa Williams
Watching a 90 minute Aviva advert with a few seconds of Downton Abbey squeezed inbetween
martinbamford Martin Bamford
By watching Spooks I've managed to a) avoid watching Downton Abbey and b) avoid the misguided sounding #aviva ads. Double bonus.
simperman Paul Simper
They are truly rubbish. RT @RyanJL: Here's what Aviva were hoping to achieve with the awful Downton Abbey ident 'story' bit.ly/qPuCsY
thirdbreakfast Dan A
Note to Aviva: the tone of your placements around the Downton Abbey break will only create a resolve to never buy your products. Please note
auntietee75 T E
AVIVA ads are so depressing. Terrible interruptions to lovely Downton Abbey!!
Singstar1982 Vikki Lyons
Right! Downton Abbey is so beautiful, why are they depressing us with those Aviva adverts!!
mattcooke_uk Matt Cooke
Dear Aviva. There's room for only one Gary on the ITV1 Sunday schedule - Mr Barlow - not the poor bloke depicted in your Downton Abbey ads.
cjiqbal Chaudhry Javed Iqbal
Don't think the Aviva biker accident advert on ITV does justice to #Downton Abbey
kjalee Katy Lee
Ofcom are surely going to get a flood of complaints about the Aviva ads sponsoring Downton Abbey
Lockers75 Justin Lockwood
The #Aviva adverts during Downton Abbey are the worst I've EVER seen #simples
mattcooke_uk Matt Cooke
Downton Abbey being slightly ruined by Aviva sponsorship trails which feature someone stuck in an upturned car. Hmm.
BookJo Joanna Sholem
Aviva ad dumb intro to Downton Abbey - totally disconcerting transition I thought They didn't have motorbikes in 1916....
Sue Helmont, Head of Brand at Aviva UK said the company is reviewing all comments about its latest campaign.
"The stories were chosen specifically to show how the lives of everyday people can suddenly take a dramatic turn, but financial support can help in their hour of need," she said.
"The first series of idents shown last night cover the story of Gary, an Aviva income protection customer who sustained serious injuries in a motorcycle accident [and] could no longer continue to do his job as an engineer.
"His policy provided him with an income and enabled him to retrain for another profession, while continuing to receive an income from Aviva.
"We worked very closely with Gary to ensure that his case was handled as sensitively as possible."
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To be fair ...
... I did not see the advert so cannot comment on it. As to AVIVA's service generally, 5-7 years ago it was appalling and I re-christened it 'Norwich Useless' (which is maybe why it changed its name to AVIVA!) Since then however it has made a conscious effort to correct its problems and I have noticed a dramatic improvement in service. I am very happy dealing with AVIVA these days and I find the staff excellent. Credit where it's due chaps!
Posted by: Neil F Liversidge
Head in the sand.
Guess what people who found the AVIVA ad depressing, it is not half as depressing as being permenantly disabled and unable to work and therefore not earn. Wake up, real life is not a Georgian Soap Opera. Kudos to the AVIVA marketing department, they say that even bad publicity is good publicity don't they?
Posted by: Barrington Orr
Pathetic!
People do have acccidents and are unable to work. Employer's don't pay salaries forever and don't provide long term sick packages. Why is everyone so bloody sensitve these days? Toughen up and face reality. Incidentally, I am not a fan of Aviva but there's nothing wrong pointing out the facts.
Posted by: Peter
The begging bowl
Well said Barrington, I trust that should the said misfortune befall any of these selfish idiots who no doubt know all about their rights but probably do little or nothing about their responsibilities will not be sticking their begging bowl in the public purse to sustain them. Rather they will just slip away and accept their fait with dignity.
Posted by: Stuart Rathbone
aviva advert
got to laugh at the twitter comments as it just sums up the public attitude to financial planning in general I think where aviva went wrong is at the end of the advert as the twitters were already in fantasy land mode watching downton they should have said do not worry you can always rely on the state to help you if you cannot work through ill health AND THEY MAY EVEN COME ROUND AND PAY YOUR BILLS that would have allowed them to enjoy the rest of their programme, I hope on the show ( AS NOT MY CUP OF TEA) they did not show any work/soup kitchens and any poverty that would have been just too much the twitter accounts would have been in meltdown I also have got to disagree as have found in last few years aviva have got a lot of their issues sorted and their support and service has improved greatly
Posted by: steven cusack
Wasted opportunity
AVIVA would have been better off trying to persuade the public that if they buy this cover it will actually pay out when needed. The general perception in my experience is that it doesn't pay out without one hell of a fight!
Posted by: Alan Wilkinson
Cant watch Downton with no income
Its a shame the TWITers dont realise that without an income, they wont be able to afford even the electricity to run the TV let alone the 42" they're probably watching it on. As for spoiling their enjoyment, how much enjoyment will they have without income? Well done to Aviva for getting the message to the masses.
Posted by: Chris Hulme
Balanced view
17 comments a backlash really!! Just looked at twitter and these comments jumped out at me to balance the argument OldSkoolAdvice OldSkool I take it back. Those #aviva ads are brilliant. Never sold so much income protection in a morning #chiching #keepupthegoodwork #oldskool KevinCarrC Kevin Carr Interesting how people enjoy various types of death, illness + murder on a range of TV programs but not when closer to home #downton #aviva thedeaddrop Chris Bailey RT @McMillan_Paul: Well done @avivaplc Brave move to send a strong disturbing message on prime time TV Hopefully made people think #Aviva martinbamford Martin Bamford Nice to see my (slightly tongue in cheek) tweet from last night re #aviva and #downtonabbey included in this article http://infrmd.ch/oGiBWE
Posted by: Dave
Deluded people
What a sad reflection on british society that so many people have nothing more to concern them than being woken up their stupid sleepwalk into economic and financial oblivion. Full marks to Aviva for getting under the skin of some of couch potatoes by whom this once great nation is peopled. It is a pity that a government will never be elected with the guts to shake these same people into realising that they will not "be okay" in their retirement whenever that might come.
Posted by: Darrell Monteith
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I have been an Independent Financial Adviser for 19 years. Aviva is the only company in the UK market place that I WILL NOT deal with under any circumstances. Their service standards, in my experience, are appalling and their products (including IP) are, generally mediocre.
Posted by: Bill Wells