Critics of AARP offer an alternative version of the group's origins. "60 Minutes" reported in a 1978 exposé that AARP had been established as a marketing device by Leonard Davis, founder of the Colonial Penn Group insurance companies, after he met Ethel Percy Andrus. According to critics, until the 1980s AARP was controlled by Davis, who promoted its image as a non-profit advocate of retirees in order to sell insurance to members. Possibly as a result of this report, AARP conducted a competitive bidding process, and, in 1980, shifted the insurance contracts available to members to Prudential Financial.