ASA gets tough with Holiday Autos and Ryanair
Holiday Autos and Ryanair have come under fire from the advertising watchdog for misleading customers.
In the case of Holiday Autos, an investigation took place after a customer complained about the validity of an advertisement on the company’s website in April which stated “FREE additional driver offers worldwide Barbados Dubai New Zealand Thailand europe France Germany Turkey Spain Alicante Barcelona Madrid Malaga”.
The Advertising Standards Authority said the ad implied that those locations were the locations where the free additional driver offer applied, and implied that when customers booked a car in those locations they would be able to add an additional driver for free.
“We noted that only around 16 of 70 cars available for Alicante in April offered a free additional driver, and that the only way a customer could find out which cars the offer applied to was to click through to each car’s individual booking page,†it said in its findings released today.
“We considered the ad should have made the restricted nature of the offer clearer. We therefore concluded the ad was misleading.â€
Holiday Autos issued a statement today saying: “We pride ourselves on providing customers with clear and relevant information about all our offers on the site and at every stage of the booking process, so we’re particularly sorry that in this one instance, the ASA felt that the exceptions and details about this offer weren’t as prominent as they should be.
“As soon as we were made aware of the complaint, we changed the ad copy to ensure its much clearer at the outset for customers on what the offer is, its availability and how customers can easily identify cars with the offer available and we are also looking into to other enhancements which allow this information to be displayed within the booking process in the future.”
Meanwhile, a Ryanair advert in December was examined after a complaint from rival easyJet.
The ad featured scenes of New Year celebrations in Dublin and offered flights with Ryanair for £7 one way.
EasyJet challenged whether the ad misleadingly implied it was possible to travel to Dublin to celebrate New Year’s Eve from £7, whereas the small print stated that the advertised price was available for travel between January and March.
Ryanair claimed the ad was run in co-operation with Tourism Ireland, who provided the text and image.
It said they had been promoting Dublin’s New Year festival for four weeks prior to the time the ad appeared, at which time the travel period was extended from December 2010 to January to February 2011.
They said, however, that point had been missed during the sign-off process, but the relevant content had since been amended.<
Ryanair said it was not its intention to publish misleading advertising.
Tourism Ireland did not comment on the complaint.
The ASA said the small print contradicted the impression given by the ad and concluded that the ad was misleading.
by Bev Fearis
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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