Thomas Cook TV ad banned over copy-cat fears
A Thomas Cook TV ad which sparked more than 100 complaints has been banned after viewers claimed it could cause harmful copy-cat behaviour among children.
The commercial showed a holidaymaker let down a tyre on one of the company’s coaches to try to avoid returning home from his holiday.
The advertising watchdog ruled the Thomas Cook campaign was "irresponsible" after it received 118 objections.
It upheld complaints that children and teenagers could emulate the potentially dangerous scene.
In its defence, Thomas Cook said it had sought to make "an original, amusing and light-hearted ad which captured, in an imaginative and creative way, the desire expressed by many of their customers that their holiday did not end"
The company said around 87% of adults in the UK would have seen the ad and, whilst they stressed that they took all feedback seriously, they considered that the number of complaints received by the ASA therefore represented a very small minority of viewers.
They said they had analysed the feedback about the ad that they had received on social media platforms and found that, for every negative remark, many more people had made positive comments.
Adding that it did not condone the behaviour displayed in the ad, Thomas Cook said it believed the comical context of the scene was clear to viewers.
The ASA agreed with Thomas Cook that the ad did not condone or encourage anti-social behaviour or encourage behaviour prejudicial to health and safety, but it ruled that it was irresponsible because it focused on actions which could be dangerous to children.
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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