The ad ran during the lunchtime news on July 8, which was heavily filled with reports about the London Underground bombings the previous day, prompting a viewer to complain to the advertising watchdog that it was inappropriate to show the ad at such a sensitive time.
The ad said: "Have you made a plan for the future? If not you should do it now. The unexpected could be just around the corner and when it happens it'll be too late."
The Advertising Standards Authority said that ITV accepted that the transmission was inappropriate and had "slipped through" at such a sensitive time.
ITV maintained that it had made extensive arrangements to try to minimise the chance of showing any ads that might have caused offence or distress following the events of July 7 and had taken off 30 campaigns until at least until July 11.
The broadcaster also said that warning notices were put on ITV News programmes to assist ITV schedulers with identifying unsuitable ads and blamed the incident on "human error" and the pressures under which the staff where working at the time.
The ASA concluded that the ad should not have been shown at a time when many people would be more aware of their mortality.
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