Thomas Cook ordered not to repeat post-Christmas advertising campaign
Thomas Cook’s multi-million pound post-Christmas TV advertising campaign, in which it claimed to offer 10% off millions of holidays, misled customers, said watchdogs.
Upholding customer complaints against the ads, the Advertising Standards Authority said it didn’t believe Thomas Cook had applied the 10% discount in line with consumer expectations.
The ASA launched an investigation after two viewers complained that holidays they were interested in to Lido de Jesolo and Sharm El Sheikh not change in price despite being identified as part of the promotion.
In its defence, Thomas Cook said the fact that a 10% discount was applied to the system price did not necessarily mean that the holiday price would be seen to reduce when compared to the pre-promotion price because the price of a holiday did not remain static and was subject to normal and frequent adjustments, depending on the level of supply and demand.
However, the ASA said Thomas Cook’s fluid pricing system, whereby the holiday prices continually fluctuated, meant it wasn’t clear to consumers how the 10% discount would be calculated and to what original price the 10% discount would be applied when they booked.
"We considered that the advertisers’ approach would therefore confuse consumers as to the extent of the discount," said the ASA.
"We did not consider that the promotional discount had been applied in line with consumer expectation, given that the promotional prices were based on a fluctuating price and fluctuated themselves, and we therefore concluded that the ads were likely to mislead."
It told Thomas Cook not to broadcast the ads again in their current form. The ASA has already banned Cook’s TV advertising campaign, which showed a holidaymaker letting down a coach tyre to delay his return home, over fears it could spark copycat behaviour amongst children.
By Linsey McNeill
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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