...

Ummm... that isn't money wasted. It's called advertising, and without advertising, they have no business.

Did you buy your insurance from the Poughkeepsie General Insurance and Bagel Company? Of course not, because you'd never heard of them. If your insurance company wasn't convinced that sponsoring that sporting event was going to improve their bottom line when all was said and done, they would not have spent the money doing it.

Insurance companies make their profit by insuring enough people so that the customers who don't have claims bring in more money than other customers' claims cost them. (An oversimplification to be sure, a substantial amount of the profits also comes from investing the money that isn't paid out in claims). But, without customers there are no profits, and without advertising, there are no customers.

tanstaafl.