Do Insurance agents/ Financial advisers have a bad reputation?

This thought came to me when I was at school and Prudential was having some survey on campus, but it turns out they were literally trying to sell their investment products to students.

This happened to me, and I was curious about what they were selling and when they offered some 20-year savings plan to me, I was honestly convinced it was good. But when I asked them for the 15+ page document and slowly read through everything, it was almost like a scam:

They included an “insurance program” which I don’t even know what it was for, and neither did I ask for it.

The guaranteed returns after 20 years is literally less than my principal invested amount. Factor in inflation, and I’m pretty sure that’s half of my investment gone after 20 years.

I didn’t go forward with the plan. But it does make me wonder, why do insurance agents/FAs go after students, selling them plans they probably have never heard of, with so much misleading information? I’ve heard (idk if it’s entirely true) about the bad reputation the insurance industry has, and it seems like everyone is annoyed by IAs/FAs.

But at the end of the day, everyone needs insurance, soo I doubt we can avoid them completely.

What are your thoughts on the insurance industry and has anyone had such an experience before?