The Violent Sell

"The Federal Bureau of Investigation reports that a violent crime occurs every 54 seconds, a murder every 39 minutes, a rape every 17 minutes, a robbery every two minutes." This hair-raising litany, which draws on 1968 crime statistics, is the theme of an advertising campaign for the latest thing in insurance: the violence indemnity policy.

Sold by Old American Insurance Co. of Kansas City, Mo., the coverage is aimed at those Americans, especially elderly city dwellers, who increasingly fear for their safety. The ad, which opens with a menacing, silhouetted attacker, is in the form of a long letter from Old American President Joseph McGee Jr. It leaves no nightmare untouched as it warns readers of the dangers of "being mugged, pushed down a flight of stairs by a fleeing thief, or shoved off a curb by a roaming gang of toughs." At a cost of $12 a year, a policyholder injured in a crime of violence can collect up to $5,250 to cover medical expenses. If the insured is killed, Old American will pay his beneficiary $10.000.

Using a direct-mail drive. Old American has been test-marketing its violence policy for four months in states west of Ohio. Two weeks ago, the company began advertising in the Chicago Daily News. So far, 500 policies have been sold. Notes President McGee: "Violence insurance seemed to us a need of the times. But we still don't know if there is a demand for it." If the idea fails, it will not be for want of trying by Old American's ad-writing chief, who at one point in his pitch says: "You never know what's waiting outside for you, do you? And when you get home, what fears lurk?"

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