COMMENT
I'm A Celebrity - Never Buy From Me!

Financial regulator the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has fined a leading life assurer £500,000 for producing misleading advertisements for two financial products.

AXA Sun Life used several TV personalities - including Lesley Ash, Carol Smillie and June Whitfield - to sell its Bonus Cash Builder Plus Plan (BCP) and Guaranteed Over 50 Plan (GO50). These products were promoted in national magazines, newspapers, television adverts and direct-offer leaflets between February 2002 and January 2004. As a result of this wide-ranging media campaign, around 200,000 people purchased one of these plans.

However, AXA Sun Life failed to provide customers with sufficient information about how these products worked or the risks involved. In fact, its ads focused almost exclusively on the benefits on offer and 'free' promotional gifts, rather than providing key information about the risks of investing in these plans. What's more, BCP ads screened between January 2002 and April 2003 used incorrect data, but AXA Sun Life failed to tell its customers about this mistake, and then keep this breach from the FSA for seven months. Oops!

Everyone who bought one of these policies during this two-year period can opt to cancel their policy and receive a full refund of premiums, plus interest. Personally, I'd take the money and run!

The BCP is a low-start with-profits endowment policy that provides a cash sum on maturity, plus life cover throughout the term of the policy. The GO50 is a whole of life policy that provides a fixed, guaranteed lump sum on the death of the policyholder. Both plans are horribly inflexible and include eye-wateringly high charges, so surrendering them early would lead to significant financial losses.

Although financial promotions must be "fair, clear and not misleading", few companies comply with the spirit as well as the letter of the rules. In fact, some companies choose to sail close to the wind in order to meet demanding sales targets, which inevitably leads to mis-selling.

Here's my golden rule of financial advertising: if the campaign is fronted by a celebrity, the product itself is dross. Be a cynic and ask yourself, "What on earth does bubbly Carol Smillie or dependable June Whitfield know about investment, for heaven's sake?" It's also worth remembering that customers ultimately end up footing the bill for celebrity appearance fees!

And the same goes for the mathematically minded Carol Vorderman. Ms Vorderman is the front woman for Firstplus Financial Group, which markets variable-rate secured loans. However, its rates are uncompetitive (between 7.7% APR and 12.9% APR), so it tends to feed on unsophisticated borrowers at the lower end of the market. Although, with estimated annual earnings of around £2 million, Ms Vorderman has no need of Firstplus' services herself.

Furthermore, Firstplus' payment protection insurance is overpriced. Also, much of its business comes from consolidation loans – rolling up other debts and securing them against your home. This is something you should avoid like the plague, because repayment problems could mean that you lose your home. You'd be miles better off remortgaging with your existing mortgage lender, getting an unsecured personal loan or, even better, snowballing your unsecured debts.

Finally, if you have a complaint about a financial ad, or believe one to be misleading, please call the FSA's hotline on 0845 7300 168. You'll be doing your bit to help your fellow Fools and other UK consumers to steer clear of the bad guys!

More: How about a high-interest savings account or a cheap, flexible, tax-free investment? Visit our Get Out of Debt centre | Get our free Getting Out of Debt handbook.