This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Artist News Brands & Merch Business News Top Stories
Iggy’s insurance not available to pop people
By CMU Editorial | Published on Tuesday 24 February 2009
This is without doubt my favourite news story so far this year. It’s materialised that Swiftcover, the car insurance company with that slightly scary Iggy Pop fronted TV ad campaign, won’t insure musicians, because if they are injured in an accident their loss of future earnings claim might be too high.
Which means that Iggy, who tells the viewing audience how much better his life is thanks to the convenience of a Swiftcover insurance policy, wouldn’t actually get an insurance policy from the company if he actually used one of their convenient (or ‘swift if you like’) methods of application.
The inconsistency between the ads and real life was discovered by one Tim Soong, a musician whose loss of injury claim, in the case of an accident, would presumably be for a lot less than Iggy’s. He’s the bass player in a newish band called Roguetune who are possibly most notable to date for their musical ode to Heathrow Terminal 5.
He told the Evening Standard: “The customer services operator told me that they don’t insure musicians. When I mentioned Iggy Pop, she said his case was different because he is American. I’m reporting Swiftcover to the Advertising Standards Authority”.
Part time music producer Felix Wright had the same problem, and told the paper: “When I asked what Iggy Pop did for a living if I was being rejected as a musician, they said they did not know his personal life and he was not one of their policyholders”.
I trust the next Iggy ad for the company will see him being swiftly rejected after applying for a policy. I pity the customer service rep who has to say “I’m afraid you don’t qualify, Mr Pop”, that could be even scarier than the ads themselves.
