On May 29, Empire Life launched a new consumer insurance advertising campaign telling Canadians that the dumbest way to die is without life insurance.

The Dumb Ways to Die™ cartoon characters first appeared in Australia, where they were part of a safety program intended to reduce railway injuries. In a musicvideo which became wildly popular on the internet, the variously-coloured and mostly oval-shaped figures sang about twenty-one stupid ways to die, the last three being train-related.

Empire Life has now licensed these characters in Canada and is using them to promote the importance of life insurance. The multi-media campaign involves social media, digital advertising, direct mail, and television, including three 30-second videos in English and French. The cartoons feature prominently on the insurer’s new consumer web site at empirelife.ca

The insurer points to research conducted by LIMRA last year, which indicates that 65 per cent of Canadians either have no life insurance or feel they are underinsured. Empire says that the entertaining “dumbest way to die” message is meant to get more Canadians thinking about their insurance needs and make the topics of death and life insurance more approachable.