Travel advert is second most complained about of all time
Booking.com’s recent controversial TV and cinema advert was the second most complained about advert of all time, according to latest figures from the Advertising Standards Authority.
Only Paddy Power’s advert offering incentives to customers to bet on the outcome of the Oscar Pistorius murder trial attracted more complaints in 2014.
In total last year, 5,525 complained about the Paddy Power advert, which the ASA ruled caused serious offence by trivializing the issues surrounding a murder trial and ordered its immediate removal.
However, the ASA did not uphold the 1,768 complaints about booking.com’s ad, which viewers claimed was offensive and encouraged children to swear because it used ‘booking’ instead of a swear word. The ad has been allowed to continue and, as a result, complaints have now topped 2,000.
The ASA said: "We did not uphold the complaints, judging that it was a light hearted play on words that couldn’t be mistaken for an actual swear word.
"We also ruled that it was unlikely to encourage swearing amongst children; any children that did pick up on the joke were unlikely to have learned bad language through the ad itself."
The ASA said the top three most complained about adverts last year (the third was a competition from The Sun offering a date with a Page 3 model) , were also the most complained about adverts ever.
It said this reflected the rise of social media, which has allowed members of the public to voice and co-ordinate their concerns about ads.
Many of the complaints about the Paddy Power ad and The Sun’s ‘Win a Date with a Page 3 Model’ were coordinated via the online petition site, change.org.
A big theme of 2014 was the rise of copycat websites, which mislead people by appearing to be official government websites. The tenth most complained about ad last year concerned passport-uk.co.uk , which offers passport renewal services for a fee and allegedly implied it was a government site.
The ASA said it had taken ‘firm action’ to reduce the number of misleading ads in this area.
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
Vegas’s Billion-Dollar Secrets – What They Don’t Want Tourists to Know
Visit Florida’s New CEO Bryan Griffin Shares His Vision for State Tourism with Graham
Chicago’s Tourism Renaissance: Graham Interviews Kristin Reynolds of Choose Chicago
Graham Talks with Cassandra McCauley of MMGY NextFactor About the Latest Industry Research
Destination International’s Andreas Weissenborn: Research, Advocacy, and Destination Impact
Graham and Don Welsh Discuss the Success of Destinations International’s Annual Conference
Graham and CEO Andre Kiwitz on Ventura Travel’s UK Move and Recruitment for the Role
Brett Laiken and Graham Discuss Florida’s Tourism Momentum and Global Appeal
Graham and Elliot Ferguson on Positioning DC as a Cultural and Inclusive Global Destination
Graham Talks to Fraser Last About His England-to-Ireland Trek for Mental Health Awareness
Kathy Nelson Tells Graham About the Honour of Hosting the World Cup and Kansas City’s Future
Graham McKenzie on Sir Richie Richardson’s Dual Passion for Golf and His Homeland, Antigua
ADS PRO 
Qatar Airways offers flexible payment options for European travellers
Phocuswright reveals the world's largest travel markets in volume in 2025
Cyclone in Sri Lanka had limited effect on tourism in contrary to media reports
Skyscanner reveals major travel trends 2026 at ITB Asia
Higher departure tax and visa cost, e-arrival card: Japan unleashes the fiscal weapon against tourists