‘Unprofessional and disrespectful’: Company uses young man’s death to promote travel insurance

‘Barney was a one of a kind of guy. It’s damaging to his legacy that they’re using this to promote insurance,’ claims friend of the deceased

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An insurance company has come under fire after using the death of a young man to promote its travel insurance products.

Barney Dobbin’s friends accused CompareNI.com of being “unprofessional and disrespectful” by publishing an article about his death.

Mr Dobbin, from County Antrim, Ireland, died in a climbing accident in Ecuador in 2018.

The company posted a news story-style piece, which was subsequently taken down in 2019, about the 25-year-old’s death on its website.

Entitled “Northern Irish mountain climber dies on Ecuador trip”, the article advised readers to take out specialist insurance for similar trips.

CompareNI.com has since apologised for “any upset caused”.

Niall Quinn, a friend of Mr Dobbin, told The Nolan Show on BBC Radio Ulster: “Barney was a one of a kind of guy. It’s damaging to his legacy that they’re using this to promote insurance.

“He was a person. He lived his life to the full. He was adventurous. It’s disrespectful to his name that they are using it to promote insurance.”

Mr Quinn claimed that the family had not been made aware of the plan to use Mr Dobbin’s story by the company, and said it had come as “quite a shock”.

“For them [CompareNI] to post something of that nature to promote insurance is unprofessional and disrespectful,” he added.

Ian Wilson, managing director of CompareNI, told The Independent: “On reflection, we completely understand why the family feels this article was not sensitive to their loss. We have removed it from our website, and we apologise for any upset caused.”

Mr Dobbin died in December 2018 after reaching the summit of Mount Chimborazo, the highest mountain in South America.

Prior to his death, he worked as a teacher at the British School in Quito, Ecuador.