The advertisement promotes LIC's New Cancer Cover, an insurance plan designed to provide financial protection following the diagnosis of specified early-stage and major-stage cancers.
It features a man and woman jumping joyfully against a pink ribbon backdrop, accompanied by the message, "Now You Can Fight Cancer with Confidence."
Another line reads, "Because your focus should be on recovery, not financial worries."
'No one celebrates a cancer diagnosis'
Menon argued that the use of a happy, jumping couple was inappropriate for a product associated with a serious illness. "A couple jumping up in the air, the hackneyed idea of happiness, demonstrated in the context of being able to afford Cancer care," she wrote in a LinkedIn post. "How crass can you get LIC?"
Questioning the judgment behind the campaign, Menon asked whether anyone involved in creating or approving the advertisement had considered how it might be received by people affected by cancer.
"Is there no one in your advertising department with a little bit of common sense and compassion? No one celebrates a Cancer diagnosis. Not one human. Not even a Saint," she said.
"Some advertising makes your stomach churn and induces projectile vomiting," she wrote, adding that she had encountered the advertisement while reading the newspaper during breakfast.
"I was victimised by Life Insurance Corporation of India this morning, and it's a nightmare that will haunt me forever," she said.
Menon said she generally welcomed advertisements other than government campaigns in newspapers but found LIC's latest promotion particularly disturbing.
"This was on the front page of the Indian Express. It was the most horrific thing I have seen in a long while," she wrote.
The advertisement promotes LIC's New Cancer Cover, a non-participating, non-linked individual health insurance product.
According to the advertisement, the plan provides financial protection against specified early-stage and major-stage cancers, with fixed benefit payouts regardless of actual treatment costs.
It offers 25% of the applicable sum assured upon diagnosis of specified early-stage cancer and 100% upon diagnosis of specified major-stage cancer.
Other features include a premium waiver following an eligible cancer diagnosis and a monthly income benefit equivalent to 1% of the applicable sum assured for 10 years in the event of major-stage cancer.
The plan also allows policyholders to choose between level sum assured and increasing sum assured options.
Menon questions LIC's advertising judgment
Beyond the creative treatment of the campaign, Menon criticised LIC's broader decision-making, alleging that questionable financial decisions had diminished the organisation's financial value.
"Having lost the plot with a number of questionable financial decisions in the recent past, the financial value of this once celebrated organisation has been severely diminished. This ad prooves that moral and social values are also under threat," she said.
She also questioned who had approved the advertisement and which advertising agency or individual would take responsibility for the campaign.
"The final question is which agency/individual is ready to claim ownership of this?" Menon asked. "What has happened to Indian advertising?"