ASA Adjudication on Real Travel Ltd

Ad

A brochure for a company promoting gap-year travel, included a page headlined “our real commitment”, which provided practical information about taking part in a project. In a section titled "Where your money goes", text stated "On programmes without a volunteer element, the money goes mainly to pay for the ground services in your destination and for any visas or insurance that are included. On volunteer projects much of the money goes to the project and the local community, feeding directly into the local economy. The balance goes towards the cost of running our office here in Tunbridge Wells."

Issue

The complainant objected that the ad was misleading because none of the five projects that she had volunteered on had received any financial contribution from the advertisers.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

Real Travel Ltd t/a Real Gap Experience (Real Gap) said that they offered around 350 programmes and had local partners overseas, responsible for their ground operations, who worked closely with various projects.  They said they paid the partner, who in turn used the money to pay the projects.  They said the amount of money projects received could vary, but it was the local partners who determined what was given.  The financial aid varied and was determined and agreed with the project directors. They said most of the fees paid to partners covered volunteers' travel, orientation, accommodation, meals and in-country support for the duration of the project.  They said support for the projects could be a monetary donation, provision of supplies or some other contribution, such as supplying volunteers, but some projects did not necessarily receive monetary donations.  However, they did not feel the ad was misleading as much of the money they received was paid to local agents, which supported the local community and the projects.

They provided additional information regarding the five projects on which the complainant had worked and a letter from one partner who administered two of the projects.  It stated the partner had received financial contributions from Real Gap volunteers, as well as documentation and letters which showed the funding given to some of their other projects, which we had requested they provide.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA noted that Real Gap had provided evidence which supported the claim that some projects, including two of the projects on which the complainant had worked, received a financial contribution from the money paid by the volunteers.  We noted however that the ad stated "On volunteer projects much of the money goes to the project and the local community, feeding directly into the local economy" and considered that people would understand that to mean that most projects received a direct monetary contribution, not that a number of projects received a provision of supplies or some other contribution instead.  

Because we understood that some projects received a provision of supplies or some other contribution, rather than a direct monetary contribution, and that some projects did not receive any direct funding at all, we considered the wording was ambiguous and concluded it was likely to mislead.  We noted, however, that the advertisers had amended the claims in their most recent brochure and welcomed the amended wording.

The ad breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation) and 7.1 (Truthfulness).

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)