Any advertisement or other device designed to produce leads based on a response from a potential insured which is directed towards persons age 65 or older shall prominently disclose that an agent may contact the applicant if that is the fact. In addition, an agent who makes contact with a person as a result of acquiring that person’s name from a lead generating device shall disclose that fact in the initial contact with the person.
(a) No insurer, agent, broker, solicitor, or other person or other entity shall solicit persons age 65 and older in this state for the purchase of disability insurance, life insurance, or annuities through the use of a true or fictitious name which is deceptive or misleading with regard to the status, character, or proprietary or representative capacity of the entity or person, or to the true purpose of the advertisement.
(b) For the purposes of this section, an advertisement includes envelopes, stationery, business cards, or other materials designed to describe and encourage the purchase of a policy or certificate of disability insurance, life insurance, or an annuity.
(c) Advertisements shall not employ words, letters, initials, symbols, or other devices which are so similar to those used by governmental agencies, a nonprofit or charitable institution, senior organization, or other insurer that they could have the capacity or tendency to mislead the public. Examples of misleading materials, include, but are not limited to, those which imply any of the following:
(1) The advertised coverages are somehow provided by or are endorsed by any governmental agencies, nonprofit or charitable institution or senior organizations.
(2) The advertiser is the same as, is connected with, or is endorsed by governmental agencies, nonprofit or charitable institutions or senior organizations.
(d) No advertisement may use the name of a state or political subdivision thereof in a policy name or description.
(e) No advertisement may use any name, service mark, slogan, symbol, or any device in any manner that implies that the insurer, or the policy or certificate advertised, or that any agency who may call upon the consumer in response to the advertisement, is connected with a governmental agency, such as the Social Security Administration.
(f) No advertisement may imply that the reader may lose a right, or privilege, or benefits under federal, state, or local law if he or she fails to respond to the advertisement.
(g) An insurer, agent, broker, or other entity may not use an address so as to mislead or deceive as to the true identity, location, or licensing status of the insurer, agent, broker, or other entity.
(h) No insurer may use, in the trade name of its insurance policy or certificate, any terminology or words so similar to the name of a governmental agency or governmental program as to have the capacity or the tendency to confuse, deceive, or mislead a prospective purchaser.
(i) All advertisements used by agents, producers, brokers, solicitors, or other persons for a policy of an insurer shall have written approval of the insurer before they may be used.
(j) No insurer, agent, broker, or other entity may solicit a particular class by use of advertisements which state or imply that the occupational or other status as members of the class entitles them to reduced rates on a group or other basis when, in fact, the policy or certificate being advertised is sold on an individual basis at regular rates.
(k) In addition to any other prohibition on untrue, deceptive, or misleading advertisements, no advertisement for an event where insurance products will be offered for sale may use the terms “seminar,” “class,” “informational meeting,” or substantially equivalent terms to characterize the purpose of the public gathering or event unless it adds the words “and insurance sales presentation” immediately following those terms in the same type size and font as those terms.