Four in five Australians on social media want the government to ban predatory advertisements encouraging people to move their super into riskier products, according to new research commissioned by the Super Members Council (SMC).
The Ideally survey of more than 1,000 people found 45 per cent of respondents had recently seen clickbait-style super advertisements on social media, while 63 per cent were unaware similar ads had been used to switch Australians into the collapsed Shield and First Guardian funds.
Those collapses led to 12,000 people losing $1.2 billion in super savings and intensified scrutiny on lead generation practices, sales tactics and oversight gaps across the financial advice and superannuation sectors.
The council said the findings reinforced the need for stronger consumer protections and backed the government’s proposed reforms targeting harmful lead generation and stronger governance obligations for platform trustees.
Research also showed more than 70 per cent of respondents struggled to distinguish between scams and advertisements from reputable financial providers.
The council linked the findings to a recent increase in younger members with lower balances being switched into what it described as potentially riskier and more expensive products, coinciding with the rise of social media advertising tactics associated with the Shield and First Guardian collapses.
The industry body reiterated calls for reforms including stronger oversight of advisers and trustees, tougher accountability requirements for super platforms, clearer comparisons at the point of switching and a crackdown on aggressive selling tactics through social media and cold calling.
It also urged the government to progress its Delivering Better Financial Outcomes reforms alongside broader consumer protection measures.
“These new insights show everyday Australians strongly want to see the government take action to make super safer for everyone. They want them to truly raise the bar on minimum safety standards,” said the council’s chief executive Misha Schubert.
“This also highlights why the government shouldn’t weaken or water down crucial safety reforms. Australians clearly get it: they know that complexity and weak accountability create grave dangers to people’s life savings and make further Shield and First Guardian-style collapses possible.”
